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PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. 
REPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. 



REPORT 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES, 



ELLIOT C. COW DIN, 

UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER. 



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WASHINGTON: 

GOTEEXMEST PRINTING OFFICE 

1868. 






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CONTENTS 



Antiquity of the Use of Silk 5 

Rise and Progress of Silk Industry in the United States 6 

Rearing of Silk-worms 10 

Production of Raw Silk 11 

Progressive Development of Silk Industry in France 14 

Rise and Progress of Silk Industry in Great Britain 15 

Switzerland, Prussia, Austria, Italy, and Spain 17 

Asiatic Countries and Africa 18 

Specialties embraced by Silk Industry in the Exposition 18 

The Spinning of Waste Silk 20 

The Silk-worm and its Varieties 22 

The Silk-worm Malady and the Remedies Proposed 24 

Breeding of Silk-worms 25 

Apparatus used in the Manufacture of Silk 26 

Dyeing and Surcharge of Threads 35 

The Weaving of Stuffs of one color 36 

Velvety or Piled Fabrics 36 

The Weaving of Grand Faconnes 38 

Silk Ribbons 39 

Dependence of European Silk Mancfacturers upon the East and its 

Reciprocal Advantages 39 

Resume and Conclusion 40 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES 



Sik: The undersigned, Commissioner of the United States, and member 
of the Committee "on Raw Materials and Manufactures of great use or 
displaying remarkable skill or merit," to whom has been specially assigned 
the subject of silk and silk manufactures, respectfully submits the fol- 
lowing Report : 

Silk, by it's characteristic qualities and unchangeableness, as well as 
by the richness and beauty of its appearance, is in relation to textile 
substances what gold is to metals. 

It is of all filamentary substances that which gives the finest, most 
durable, and most elastic threads. Its tenacity is about equal to that of 
good iron; that is to say, a thread of silk of the same size will support 
nearly the same weight before breaking, and the textile matter affords 
an elasticity superior to that of the mineral substances. 

Silk consequently unites the most brilliant properties with the most 
solid qualities. Its various, excellent, and advantageous characteristics 
have made it an object of research in all ages by the different nations of 
the world. 

ANTIQUITY OF THE USE OF SILK. 

China, even in our own day the most important country for the pro- 
duction of silk, appears to have been its cradle at the most remote epoch. 
The Chinese annals attribute to the Emperor Fau-Hi the merit of having 
employed silk in the manufacture of musical instruments of his own 
invention 3,400 years before the Christian era. 

The Empress Si-Ling-Chi was the first to invent silk tissues, 2,G50 
years before our era, which invention contributed so immensely to the 
prosperity of her country that she was placed among the Chinese divini- 
ties, under the name of Sien Thsan, 1 and even now the Chinese empresses 
offer annually solemn sacrifices to her memory. 

As it is the habit of the emperor of China once a year to plough the 
earth in order to add dignity and honor to agricultural pursuits, so in 
like manner the empress, by annually visiting the silk-worm nurseries 
and laboring with her own hands, encourages the production of this 
valuable commodity. 

Two centuries before the Christian era the Chinese carried on a com- 
merce in silk with Persia, Greece, and Italy. Their caravans or troops 
of dealers were protected by military settlements or colonies. 

The generic name given to this precious material has remained 



1 This name means the first promoter of silk industry. 



6 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

unchanged except with a slight modification of the word. In fact the 
French word sole or silk bears among them the name sec. 

The Mongols name it sirke, the Mantchons sirclie. The Eussians desig- 
nate it by the word ehek, and the Greeks by sez, &c. 

Notwithstanding the antiquity of the use of silk, its nature was for a 
long time unknown, and its importation into the west was of recent date 
compared to its high antiquity in Asia. 

The history of the introduction of the first eggs of the silk-worm into 
Constantinople during the reign of the Emperor Justinian is well known. 

The Chinese, determined to retain the monopoly of the silk industry, 
forbade the exportation of the eggs under penalty of death. They were, 
nevertheless, obtained A. D. 552, by two Persian monks, who had lived 
a long time in China as missionaries, and were acquainted with the rear- 
ing of silk- worms. Stimulated by the gifts and promises of the Emperor 
Justinian, they succeeded in conveying a large number of eggs concealed 
in hollow canes to Constantinople, where they watched their hatching 
and the development of the butterflies. The breeding of silk- worms 
spread, however, very slowly in Europe. The Moors imported them into 
Cordova about the year 910. Greece and 1 taly undertook it in the twelfth 
century j thence this branch of industry passed to Marseilles. At the 
commencement of the 14th century Pope Clement V introduced it 
into Avignon. Under Henry IV, Sully established a silk- worm nursery 
in the garden of the Tuileries. Louis XIV continued to encourage this 
enterprise in France, though with but slight success, so far as relates to 
the production of cocoons and the spinning of silk. 

The weaving of silk goods with foreign thread had, on the contrary, 
already made marked progress in France, and had a great development, 
which it preserved even up to the revocation of the edict of Nantes, after 
which period the weaving as well as the spinning of silk lost ground 
considerably. 

The emigrants carried this beautiful industry into England, Germany, 
and Switzerland, and raised the most active competition against France, 
where manufactures of silk remained in a languishing condition up to 
the close of the great revolution at the end of the last century, and until 
shortly before the return of peace to Europe. 

EISE AND PEOGEESS OF SILK INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED 

STATES. 

America has not been insensible to the efforts made by other nations 
to appropriate to themselves the production of silk. 

During the early periods of the colonization of Virginia, James I, on 
several occasions, advised with and encouraged the London Company in 
regard to the cultivation of the mulberry tree, and addressed a letter to 
the company in which he enjoined its members and exhorted the plant- 
ers to apply themselves with diligence to the breeding of silk-worms, to 
establish silk- worm nurseries and spinning grounds, and to devote their 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 7 

activity rather to the production of this rich commodity than to that of 
tobacco, to which he manifested a profound aversion. Upon this advice, 
they planted a large number of mulberry trees, but collected little silk, 
in consequence of the difficulties resulting from the speedy dissolution 
of the London Company. 

However, the culture of the mulberry was resumed in Virginia about 
the year 1651. The tree was indigenous in the colony, and the enterprise 
was so far advanced in 1660 that the coronation robe of Charles 11 was 
the product of the silkworms of Virginia. But the steady advance of 
tobacco culture caused the business so to decline that it seems to have 
almost disappeared by the close of the century. 

During the 18th century efforts were made to introduce silk husbandry 
into all the American colonies. It had been started, as early as 1718, 
with some success, in Louisiana, then under the dominion of Spain. The 
most strenuous exertions were directed to Georgia. Private gifts co- 
operated with acts of Parliament, and its settlers were stimulated by 
grants of land to cultivate the mulberry and raise silk-worms. In L732, 
artisans, skilled in this industry, were sent over from Europe. The 
French emigrant who had charge of the business proved treacherous, 
and destroyed the machinery, eggs, and trees, and lied from Georgia. 

The Italian who succeeded him was more trustworthy, and some raw 
silk was soon exported to Europe. In 1735 a beautiful robe was made 
in England of Georgia silk, which Queen Caroline wore on a great state 
occasion. 

In 1710 the export of cocoons reached 1,000 pounds, and their product 
commanded the highest prices. A large silk establishment was soon 
erected in Savannah. The cocoons annually delivered to it, in the years 
from 1758 to 17G0 inclusive, ranged from 10,000 pounds to 15,000 pounds, 
and in the latter year they reached 20,000 pounds. During the same 
period the annual export of raw silk ranged from 5(10 pounds to 1,000 
pounds. At this period the silk culture was one of the most flourishing 
and profitable in the colony. But its success was of short duration. 
After 17GG the governmental bounties were withdrawn, and this industry 
began to droop. The storm of the revolutionary war prostrated it. 
After the peace, the planters of Georgia turned their attention to the 
groAving of cotton, and silk culture utterly and finally disappeared. 

The experiment in Georgia, its rise, progress, and decline, are the his- 
tory of silk culture in all the colonies. Brief notices of some other 
colonies must suffice. 

In South Carolina silk-growing was prosecuted before the Eevolution, 
and for a time flourished. The mother of the celebrated Pinckneys 
carried some silk, produced on her plantation, to England, where it was 
woven into tissues. Gowns were made of it and presented by her to 
the mother of young George III, and to the elegant Earl of Chesterfield. 
But the same causes that uprooted the business in Georgia, destroyed it 
in Carolina. It passed away on the advent of cotton-raising. 



8 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Silk husbandry received early attention in Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey. The British government aided it by liberal bounties. Dr. 
Franklin, while in Europe in 1770, sent home mulberry cuttings, silk- 
worms, eggs, &c, for distribution, and, with other influential citizens, 
gave it much encouragement. 

In 1771 a silk establishment was set up in Philadelphia, which, during 
a series of years, received a large amount of cocoons. A lady of Lan- 
caster county raised cocoons from which a piece of silk, fifty yards in 
length, was manufactured. From this a court dress was prepared for 
the Queen, who sent from Windsor Castle, in return, a handsome pre- 
sent to the fair donor on the banks of the Susquehanna. 

Large mulberry groves flourished at Princeton, New Jersey, and 
cocoons of excellent quality were produced in encouraging quantities. 
But, as in the south, the convulsion of the Eevolution, unusually severe 
in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, prostrated this branch of industry, 
and, though efforts were made after the peace to revive it, they were 
not specially successful. 

Massachusetts and Connecticut took the lead in this enterprise in the 
east. It received the fostering support of the authorities. Governor 
Law, in 1747, appeared in a silk coat and stockings of home production. 
A few years afterwards President Stiles, of Yale College, officiated at 
Commencement in flowing robes of Connecticut silk. In 1770, Boston 
and New Haven vied with each other in raising cocoons, and in spinning, 
dyeing, and manufacturing raw silk. 

A flourishing manufactory of sewing-silk was established at Mansfield, 
Connecticut, before the Eevolution. Ipswich, Massachusetts, was at 
the same period noted for its silk products ; while the largest and finest 
mulberry nursery in the country was growing at Northampton. 

All these enterprises suffered by the blight which fell upon all indus- 
trial pursuits during the revolutionary war. 

Silk husbandly and manufacturing had almost ceased to exist in the 
United States at the commencement of this century. Since then they 
have not kept pace with the advance in kindred pursuits. 

Nevertheless, they have always been prosecuted to an encouraging 
extent in various parts of New England, New York, New Jersey, and 
Pennsylvania, as, for example, Mansfield, already referred to, has done 
a large business in sewing silks, and produced, in 1839, five tons of the 
raw material. Washington, Pennsylvania, always kept up the business. 
It was introduced into the State prison at Auburn, New York, in 1811, 
and the first year the product of sewing silk was about $13,000. It was 
steadily increasing in the country, when, some 25 years ago, its growth 
was checked by a disastrous speculative furor in the morus multicaulis 
shrub, which, for a few years, raged through the Union like an epidemic. 
The reaction fell heavily upon the whole business, covering it tempo- 
rarily with odium and ridicule. It has since been slowly recovering 
from this season of delusion and folly. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 9 

111 1840 the product of silk raised in the United States was estimated 
at about (J0,(K>0 pounds, valued at $250,000. In 1844 it had increased 
to about 400,000 pounds, worth 81,500,000. By the censusof L850, when 
the effect of the speculative mania alluded to had culminated, the animal 
product was reported at only 14,703 pounds. Then it began to revive, 
and by the census report of 1800 it appears that the manufacture of 
sewing silk was carried on extensively in Connecticut, New Jersey, 
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York, the States being named 
in the order of the value of their products. 

The annual production in those States, including tram, organzine, &c, 
was placed at upwards of $5,000,000. 

Ribbons were made to a small extent, as were also silk stuffs. But, 
aside from sewing silks, tin 1 chief silk manufacture consisted of ladies' 
dress trimmings, coach laces, &c, of which the cities of Philadelphia 
and New York are reported as producing about $2,300,000. Since 1800, 
the business, in all its departments, has made steady progress, and the 
current period is more favorable than any previous one for its energetic 
prosecution. 

Our country is specially fitted for silk culture. The experiments in 
Georgia and South Carolina proved that their soil and climate were 
peculiarly suited to it. May we not hope that, after a lapse of eighty- 
five years, it will be renewed in those States, and be prosecuted success- 
fully not only there, but also in all the middle latitudes of the Union, 
whose rich soil, genial sun, and dry atmosphere are admirably adapted 
to the cultivation and manufacture of this beautiful and useful article? 

But, though the possibility of the success of this kind of industry 
has been demonstrated in a great number of localities in America, it is 
probably to the Pacific coast that we are to look for its greatest triumph. 
Among the finest cocoons exhibited at the Exposition were specimens 
from California. They were perfect in form, and remarkable for their 
white, silvery hue. The soil in the valleys of California is proverbially 
fertile, and mulberry trees are produced of the richest and most luxuriant 
growth. 

Its dry, warm, equable clirnate makes it vastly superior for silk hus- 
bandry to France or Italy. In European countries the rain and damp- 
ness destroy a much larger percentage of the grubs than on the Pacific 
coast. An intelligent and enterprising French emigrant, who is enthusi- 
astically prosecuting this industry at San Jose, declares that the humidity 
and electricity of Europe destroy from 25 to 75 per cent, of the silk-worms, 
while under the dry, elastic skies of California few ever perish. These 
considerations in a measure compensate for the higher wages of Ameri- 
can labor. 

There are other savings in this industry as compared with its prosecu- 
tion in Europe. In California there is no necessity for artificial heat to 
hatch the eggs. To transfer them from the cellar to the garret and 



10 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

expose them to the beating of the sun's rays is sufficient. Nor need the 
cultivator run the risk of the " baking" process, so liable to dim the 
lustre of the silk. The powerful rays of the sun for a few hours will 
stifle the chrysalis, render the cocoon ready for the spinner, and preserve 
the brilliancy of the material. 

California eggs are already highly valued by foreign silk-growers. 
Cidtivators are diffusing them along the Pacific coast. A considerable 
capital is invested in the silk business. . The largest cocooneries are at 
Santa Barbara. An important experiment is now being made there by 
energetic parties, who have already 10,000 mulberry trees, and have pro- 
duced the present year (1867) upwards of 300,000 cocoons of excellent 
quality. 

An enterprising company is erecting an extensive factory at San Jose, 
to be furnished with all necessary machinery, including some forty looms, 
for producing taffetas in all colors and of the best qualities. 

May we not hope that the day is not far distant when the plains that 
slide down from the western base of the Sierra Nevada will become as 
famous for beautiful silks as its gorges have long been for precious metals 
and its valleys are now becoming for cereals % 

The nationality of the commission from which this report emanates 
must furnish the excuse for dwelling so long at the outset upon the sub- 
ject of silk culture and manufacture in the United States. It will be 
resumed in brief terms near the close of the report. As germane to the 
American branch of this subject, it may be stated in this connection that 
sdk culture was recently commenced in the republic of Ecuador. Its 
soil and climate are said to be wonderfully adapted to the growth of the 
mulberry and the rearing of the grub, especially in the neighborhood of 
Quito. 

• The first eggs were imported from France in 1850. The first exported 
to France was in 1865, where the eggs were highly esteemed, and were 
wholly exempt from the peculiar disease prevailing in Europe. Like its 
vegetation, silk culture hi Ecuador can flourish the year round. 

The food required by the worms is only half as much as in Europe, 
because of the superior richness of the leaves and the more favorable 
condition of the climate. The number of mulberry trees now growing 
in the republic is nearly a million. Labor is abundant and excessively 
cheap. The promoters of this enterprise in Ecuador indulge sanguine 
hopes of success. No doubt considerable portions of South America 
are well adapted to this department of industry. 

EEAEING OF SILK-WOEMS. 

Numerous observations made by French and Italian scientific agricul- 
turists and silk husbandmen show: 

First. That the culture of the midberry tree and the breeding of silk- 
worms is possible up to a limit very far advanced northwards, a limit 
fixed by the frequent occurrence of a temperature of 77° Fahrenheit. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 11 

Second. The limit of the culture of the mulberry does not pass beyond 
that of the cultivation of the grape, and the culture of the former is 
possible wherever the latter will thrive. 

Third. The mulberry can be raised upon the sides of the mountains of 
Europe up to the point where the mean temperature of the year is 40° 
Fahrenheit. 

Fourth. Climates habitually stormy are not congenial to the breeding 
of the silk-won il. 

Fifth. Places afflicted with fevers (proving the existence of marshy 
emanations) are pernicious to the silk-worm. 

Sixth. This industry is to be considered rather as an adjunct to a large 
farm than as a chief occupation. 

To these principles, given as the natural conditions necessary or hurt- 
ful to the industry of silk husbandry, are to be added the not less 
important questions of the price at which it returns from the hand of 
the workman in eaeli locality, and of the abundance and scarcity of 
manual labor. We must, however, remark that the insufficiency of worms 
and their high price during more than ten years, in consequence of the 
malady of the precious grub in Europe, allow a remuneration sufficiently 
high to cover the expenses of the dearest hand labor, especially if we 
consider that the duration of care and attention which the harvesting 
of the worms demands does not exceed six weeks, counting from the 
day of hatching to a period after the warehousing of the cocoons, which 
latter, according to the best systems in use in Italy and France, can be 
reeled during the whole year. 

PRODUCTION OF RAW SILK. 

The production of the cocoons is essentially an agricultural industry, 
and the winding off the cocoons into raw silk may be considered as semi- 
manual and in part automatic. All the other transformations of the 
silk, from the throwing to the making of the stuffs, are entirely mechanical. 

It can hardly be possible that henceforth the United States will not 
take a large share in the immense industrial and commercial movement 
to which silk has given rise in the world. 

Certain countries, such as Italy and France and the oriental nations 
in general, employ themselves with all the transformations of silk, from 
the culture of the mulberry and the breeding of the worm to the manu- 
facture of tissues. 

England, (and others follow her example to a limited extent,) although 
not producing silk on her own soil, yet carries on a most important com- 
merce in that article, by means of her colonies and powerful marine. 
She develops with equal activity the spinning or throwing of silk thread 
and the weaving of silk goods. 

In a word, nations such as the United States, Switzerland, and 
Northern Germany, which are almost exclusively manufacturers, confine 
themselves to the transformation of silk bought in markets more or less 
distant. 



12 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

The aptitudes of manufacturing nations change or are materially 
modified from time to time. Eussia, for example, could, but recently, 
hardly be ranked among manufacturing nations. The people of that 
great empire are now making not only rapid progress in the industrial 
arts, but they have advanced in the south of Eussia, on the Caucasus, 
even to the breeding of silk-worms. 1 

The production of the sdk-worm in that country, since the annexation 
of trans-Caucasian Asia for example, has been three-fold, though the 
silk is far from being worked with the requisite care ; it being generally 
irregular and suited only to the most common productions. 

In 1865 this part of Eussia exported nearly 30,000 kilograms, or 66,155 
pounds, 2 representing a sum of about 1,560,000 francs, ($812,000,) that is 
to say, at the price of about 52 francs the kilogram, whilst that of France 
and Italy sold for at least double that price. 

It is thought that the total silk production of Eussia amounted to 
about 88,000 kilograms, or 194,054 pounds, estimated at a value of about 
4,576,000 francs, ($915,200.) This result is far short of the limit which 
may be ultimately attained both in regard to quantity and price. 

Germany and Switzerland have the same tendency, whilst France, 
the different States of Italy and Spain, in consequence of the scourge 
which attacked the production at its source some years ago, are becom- 
ing almost entirely manufacturing countries, and benefit India and the 
extreme east by their increasing wants. 

The United Kingdom of Great Britain alone seems to profit by fluc- 
tuations so unfavorable to the rest of Europe, and even to America. 

English ships go to collect in China, in Japan, at Calcutta, Bombay 
and elsewhere, the eggs or graines, cocoons, silk, and the waste, to sell 
again. After having first directly supplied her own manufactories, the 
surplus is disposed of to her neighbors in Europe ; she thus profiting by 
the transport, warehousing, commissions, brokerage, &c. 

Silk forms one of the principal articles of commerce in the business 
transactions of England with the extreme east. 

The following table will show, as near as can be ascertained, the 
value of raw silk produced annually in the various countries of the 
earth, and its vast importance as an element of national wealth : 

Asia $141, 000, 000 

Europe 73, 480, 000 

Africa 220, 000 

1 The culture of the mulberry tree, the introduction of which into Russia dates from the 
period of Peter the Great, remained without any great results up to the commencement of 
the present century. 

2 The metrical system being in use in most of the countries from which we have derived 
our information, and constantly tending to extend itself more and more, especially since the 
international conference at Paris, we have thought it useful and proper to retain in part, 
for the numbers cited, the franc as the unit of money and the kilogram as the unit of weight. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 13 

Oceaniea $120, 000 

America 80, 000 



Total 8214, 000, 000 



These amounts may be divided as follows, viz : 

Chinese empire $81, 200, 000 

Japanese empire 17, 000, 000 

Persia 5, 000, 000 

The island of Asia Minor 5, 200, 000 

Syria 1, 800, 000 

Turkistan (in China) 400, 000 

Turkistan (independent, in Asia) 1, 400, 000 

Corean archipelago 100, 000 

France 25, 000, 000 

Italy 39, 200, 000 

Turkey in Europe 7, 000, 000 

Spain and Portugal 3, 200, 000 

Pontifical States 1, 300, 000 

Greece, Ionian islands 840, 000 

Morocco, Algeria, Tunis, Mediterranean coast 300, 000 

Basin of the Danube, Austria, Bavaria, Servia, Hungary 1 , 280, 000 

India 24, 000, 000 

America 80, 000 



Total $214, 000, 000 



These figures have been greatly reduced during the last few years, as 
far as concerns the production in Europe. The difference, however, was 
made up by the quantities received from China, India, Japan, and the 
Levant. 

But those exotic silks are far from being as highly esteemed or as 
valuable as those of Europe. 

The modification in the relative value of silk which has taken place 
during a century is worthy of note. 

A century ago nearly all the silk, or at least five-sixths of the quantity 
manufactured by French fabricants, came from foreign countries, from 
the Levant, from Persia, Sicily, Italy, and Spain. 

The other sixth only was produced in the south of France. The mean 
price of French silk was 15 francs the livre, or 30 francs the kilogram, 
(2| pounds.) Exotic silks were much dearer. The most common foreign 
raw silk, that of Greece, then brought 120 francs the kilogram ; China 
and India silks, 240 francs ; and that of Italy was valued at from 500 
to 000 francs. 1 But by degrees French silk improved to such an extent 

1 These are the prices as published in the price current of the Amsterdam market, where 
at that period the greatest quantity of foreign silk was sold. 



14 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

that, in the early part of this century, the price advanced to 70 francs 
the kilogram. This rate was maintained almost without variation up to the 
year 1840 ; while foreign products were depreciated to such a degree, 
that the very best quality from the Levant and from Persia sold at 40 
francs and the waste at 32 francs. 

Italy dining this period maintained the elevation in its prices, on 
account of the very excellent quality of its silks. That was nevertheless 
surpassed by the French silks, which finally rose from the last to the 
first rank, which they still maintain. 

The raw silks of France, of the first quality, at a later period brought 
150 francs, while those of the best kind from Italy realized hardly 100 
francs. These results are due entirely to the progress in French manu- 
factures, which has hardly contributed to the extraordinary development 
of the silk industry that has occurred iu that country. 

This specialty of silk industry has given to France the importance 
that the cotton industry has to England. 

In this connection it may be profitable to give a rapid sketch (so far 
as data will permit) of the progressive development of silk culture and 
manufacture in the principal countries of Europe and Asia. The amounts 
are given in round numbers, and though obtained from trustworthy 
sources may be liable to some corrections. 

In 1789 France produced 1,000,000 pounds of raw silk. Near the close 
of the century she consumed about 1,200,000 pounds of silk thread, from 
which she manufactured from $3,000,000 to $4,000,000/ (15,000,000 to 
20,000,000 of francs.) Of this she purchased about $1,400,000 (7,000,000 
of francs) from other countries. The stock of stuff goods consequently 
amounted to from $4,400,000 to $5,400,000, (22,000,000 to 27,000,000 
francs,) of which France exported about one-half to foreign countries. 

In 1812 France produced 000,000 pounds of raw silk and 340,000 
pounds of organzine, valued at $5,000,000. The same year she imported 
900,000 pounds, valued at $0,750,000. 

In 1820 it is estimated that French manufacturers transformed 
$10,000,000 (50,000,000 francs) of materials, of which one-half was fur- 
nished by the southern departments. The goods produced from these 
materials represented a value of more than $20,000,000, (100,000,000 
francs,) of which $14,000,000 (70,000,000 francs) were consumed at home, 
and $0,000,000 (30,000,000 francs) were exported. 

As first in importance we begin with France. 

PROGRESSIVE DEVELOPMENT OF SILK INDUSTRY. 

FRANCE. 

In 1812 the silk looms in seven of the principal towns of the empire 
numbered 27,000. In 1824 Lyons alone had nearly 25,000. In 1839 the 
number in Lyons had increased to 40,000, and in the whole kingdom to 

1 Dollars at gold valuation in all cases. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 15 

85,000, employing about 170,000 workmen. In the latter year the entire 
production was estimated at $46,300,000. 

In 1850 the business had largely increased. The value of raw silk 
grown in the kingdom was $28,000,000, (140,000,000 bancs.) The capi- 
tal employed, 850,000,000, (250,000,000 francs.) the amount imported 
being $22,000,000. 

The silk goods produced were valued at 875,000,000, (375,000,000 
francs,) of which about one-third were consumed at home and two-thirds 
exported. 

In 1855 the value of silk goods sold was estimated at $100,500,000, of 
which about $26,500,000 was imported. The home consumption was 
$35,000,000, and the export was about $71,500,000. The number of silk 
looms in the empire was about 225,000. The number of persons engaged 
in this industry was upwards of half a million. 

in 1860 the value of French silks amounted to upwards of $110,000,000, 
(700,000,000 francs,) and yet this was not sufficient to supply the demand. 
France purchased in foreign countries $40,000,000, (2(10,000,000 francs,) 
chiefly of piece goods, velvets, and ribbons. Of this $180,000,000 France 
exported about $110,000,000, (550,000,000 francs.) 

These totals were reduced at the outbreak of the American rebellion, 
France restricted to a marked degree her purchases of silks. The United 
States purchased from France of silk tissues alone, in 1859, $27,000,000, 
(138,000,000 francs;) in I860, $20,800,000,(101,000,000 francs,) but in 
1861 only $5,000,000, (25,000,000 francs.) 

Subsequently the business increased, the Lyons exports of silks to the 
United States in 1865 amounting to $9,900,000, and in 1866 to $6,000,000. 

Though the rebellion has been suppressed, the fiscal measures result- 
ing therefrom still have their eifect upon the silk husbandry and manu- 
facture of France, operating as they do at the same period with the 
scarcity of indigenous silk, and the prevalence of mysterious disease 
among the silk-worms, which has by no means disappeared, and to which 
special reference will be hereafter made. 

GREAT BRITAIN. 

When the Duke of Parma sacked the city of Antwerp, in 1585, its silk 
artificers fled to England, carrying with them their experience and skill 
in this novel branch of industry. It was encouraged by the English 
government, but the humid climate being unfavorable to the rearing of 
the grub, it was not specially successful. 

On the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in 1685, some 75,000 of the 
most skilful artisans of France took refuge in Great Britain, among whom 
were a large body of silk weavers, who settled in Spitalfields, (then a 
London suburb,) and under the fostering care of the Crown they and 
their children plied their vocation with success for a century and more, 
some of their descendants remaining in the same locality to this day. 

For 30 or 10 years after immigration England was wholly dependent 



16 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

on foreigners for organzine silk thread, but in 1718 Mr. Lonibe, an Eng- 
lish capitalist, visited Piedmont disguised as a common laborer, took 
sketches of silk-throwing machinery in use there, and on his return 
erected an extensive mill at Derby, which produced more than 3,000,000 
yards of organzine per day. 

For many years raw r silk was largely imported. Acts of Parliament 
were passed from time to time stimulating its manufacture, and the busi- 
ness was steadily advancing, when, in 1764, on account of low wages, 
scarcity of work, and the preference shown for French silks, the weav- 
ers of Spitalfields and the silk operatives of other localities assembled, 
in a tumultuous manner, and petitioned Parliament for the total prohi- 
bition of foreign- wrought silks. The commotion was kept alive by com- 
binations of operatives for several years, till, in 1772, it broke into open 
riots, w r hich convulsed London many days, the final result being the 
passage of prohibition laws, which after trial proved unsatisfactory. 

This system of prohibitory legislation continued till 1824. A high 
English authority has declared that "the manufacturer, depending upon 
the protection of parliamentary restrictions on foreign competition rather 
than on his own skill and exertions, was not anxious to discover and 
introduce improvements into the manufacture." And he states that 
il since the change of system the imports of the raw material and the 
exports of the manufatured article have rapidly increased." In 1825 the 
English silk looms numbered about 24,000 ; in 1855 they had increased 
to more than 110,000, consuming about 5,500,000 pounds of thrown silk, 
and producing goods to the value of near $45,000,000, besides a eonsid- 
erable amount of spun silk, and goods of which silk constituted a part. 

In 1855 England consumed of her own silk manufactures more than 
$35,000,000, while she imported about $20,000,000. In 1800 the value of 
her sdk manufactures was estimated at some $90,000,000. On account 
of the extreme dampness and chilliness of her climate, (of which men- 
tion has been made,) she raises no silk- worms, but imports the raw mate- 
rial. 

In 1856 the value of her imports of raw silk was (omitting fractions) 
$32,000,000, and in 1867 $58,000,000. It fell off in 1858 on account of the 
"panic," but again revived. Nearly one-half the amount of the raw 
material came from China, and a large share of the balance from her 
East India possessions. 

During the three years just mentioned England imported $1,300,000 
of thrown silk, more than one-half being from France, and nearly one- 
third from China. 

In 1860 the British consumption of raw and thrown silk was 9,420,417 
pounds ; in 1861, 8,125,982 pounds ; in 1862, 9,706,202 pounds ; in 1863, 
8,182,645 pounds ; in 1864, 7,541,578 pounds ; in 1865, 6,492,720 poimds ; 
and in 1866 it was but 5,273,767 pounds. 

In 1823 Great Britain exported of silk goods only $702,000; in 1844 it 
exported $3,682,000; in 1856, $14,800,000; in 1858, $11,950,000; in 1861, 
$11,560,900; in 1865, $10,886,000. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 17 

Thus we see that this great manufacturing nation, notwithstanding by 
its uncongenial climate deprived of the capacity to successfully produce 
the raw material, has long prosecuted a large business in the transfor- 
mation of this beautiful article, though now seriously checked in many 
branches of its silk industry by the effect of the recent treaty with France. 

What an instructive lesson is thus taught to the citizens of our country, 
where everything combines to render the prosecution of this industry 
pre-eminently successful. 

OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES. 

Italy was early famous for its silk culture and manufactures. In Milan 
and vicinity, in the year 1800, about 2,000,000 pounds of raw silk were 
said to have been collected. In 1825 the quantity was estimated at 
2,700,000 pounds, valued at $10,000,000; in 1858 at 5,400,000 pounds, 
worth $.30,000,000. In 1825 Piedmont produced about 1,500,000 pounds 
of raw silk of the very highest quality. In the same year Tuscany, 
Naples, the Eomagna, and Calabria produced 1,500,000 pounds, also 
excellent in quality. In 1851 an Austrian official document stated the 
productions in the Austrian dominions of Italy at $21,700,000 in raw silk, 
and $11,200,000 in manufactured silks. In 1855 the total of both kinds of 
silk in the whole Italian peninsula was stated at upwards of $60,000,000. 
A considerable portion is consumed at home, and the remainder exported 
chiefly to Germany, France and England. 

Spain produced in 1842 about 2,000,000 pounds of raw silk, three-fifths 
of which was raised in Valencia. About 400,000 pounds were manufac- 
tured at home, and the rest exported. The Spanish cocoons are excellent, 
but much of the reeling is defective. Valencia silks, where great care 
has been taken in the manipulation, are famous for their magnificence. 

In Prussia silk manufacture is rapidly increasing. The number of 
looms in 1831 was 9,000; in 1837, 14,000; in 1855, 25,000; and in 18G5 
not less than 40,000. In the Exhibition were superb silks, velvets, velvet 
ribbons, black silk ribbons, mixed and unmixed silk fabrics of various 
descriptions, from Crefeld, Elberfeld, Viersen and vicinity. The waters 
in that locality, especially those of the Wipper, hold in solution salts 
specially adapted to secure permanency and brilliancy to the colors 
employed in manufacture. 

Austria is engaged somewhat extensively in silk manufacture, but since 
she relinquished her Italian dominions this industry has doubtless received 
a check. 

The product of Switzerland in 1858 was placed at $20,000,000. The 
"Collective Exhibition of the Zurich Manufacturers" of black and colored 
silks, plain and figured, and the "Collective Exhibition of the Basle Silk 
Ribbon Manufacturers," as shown in the Exposition, evince the progress 
and perfection to which Swiss skill in silk industry has now attained. 

Russia has already been alluded to. After France and England, the 
nations that come in the order of their importance in respect to silk 

2 s 



18 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

manufactures are Switzerland, Prussia, Austria, Italy, and Spain. France 
maintains a great superiority over all in her rich and artistic productions ; 
but in plain goods, and those of a secondary quality, she finds serious 
rivalry in British, Swiss, and German industry. Switzerland is becom- 
ing remarkable for her activity, her constant progress, and her improve- 
ments in material interests. 

In a subsequent part of this report the occasion will be embraced to 
examine the improvements she brought to the Exposition, since there is 
a great analogy between the situation and industrial genius of that 
republic and the social and manufacturing condition of the United States. 

ASIATIC COUNTRIES AND AFRICA. 

China raises, manufactures, consumes, and exports a A T ast amount of 
silk. It is impossible to estimate the quantity consumed at home. A 
high authority declares that, of her 400,000,000 of people, a large propor- 
tion, excepting the lowest classes, are clad more or less in silk fabrics. 
She exported to England alone, in* 1858, nearly 10,000,000 pounds. In 
the East India Company's possessions the product is large. In 1857 they 
exported to England about 4,500,000 pounds. Persia produced great 
quantities, much of which is consumed at home. The amount raised in 
Syria and Asia Minor is some 2,500,000 pounds per annum, of which a 
large share is exported to France and England. Reference to other 
Asiatic countries, of inferior importance in this particular, is omitted. 

Silk has long been produced in small quantities along the African 
shores of the Mediterranean. England imports some of the raw material 
from Egypt, but the greatest share of the productions of the Nile region 
is consumed at home. Tripoli produced in 1842 about 130,000 pounds. 
The islands of Cyprus and Crete raised in 1856 some 50,000 pounds. 

SPECIALTIES OF SILK INDUSTRY. 

The labor in silk comprises seven distinct branches, forming as many 
different industries, eveu when a single manufacturer conducts several in 
one establishment. These specialties are — 

1. The breeding or rearing of silk- worms, called in France the art of 
the magnanier, (or silk-worm breeder.) This word comes from magnan, 
the name given to the grub of the white mulberry in the south of France. 

The appellation magnancrie, or silk-worm nursery, is given to the local- 
ity where the worms are hatched, fed, and attended to from their birth 
till they have formed their silky envelope or cocoon. 

These silk-worm nurseries are generally established in localities or 
countries favorable to the cultivation of the mulberry tree, of whose 
leaves, and white fruit especially, the worm is particularly fond; and also 
where the temperature is regular and moderate. Nevertheless, this last 
condition is not indispensable. It is replaced artificially by special means 
of warming and ventilating, so as to maintain at will, constantly, the 
temperature between 70° and 75° Fahrenheit, and thus be able to breed 



SILK AXD SILK MANUFACTURES. 19 

numerous little grubs; (one ounce, or 30 grams, contains about 40,000, 
while from 20 ounces 800,000 have been obtained at a time, in the same 
place.) The result is arrived at chiefly by watchfulness in ventilation, in 
removing the vitiated air and replacing it by pure air. 

The art of the silk- worm breeder embraces what is called "the fabri- 
cation of the grainef or, more correctly, of the eggs to be used in the 
reproduction. The cocoons destined for this function are the only oues 
whose chrysalis or grub is allowed to be transformed into the butterfly. 
These are moistened, and then the grub opens one of the lengthened 
extremities of the cocoon, and issues from it. 

Then the grubs are collected by pairs, male and female, to permit 
fecundation before the laying of the eggs. These fecondes, suspended on 
paper or cloth, are subsequently put aside until the following spring, in 
an atmosphere of even temperature, and sufficiently low, like that of 
cellars. 

This part of the art of the breeder, so simple in appearance, demands 
special knowledge and great care, particularly at this time, when it is so 
difficult to procure eggs free from the epidemic now raging among the 
silk-worms. 

2. The second specialty in this industryis the filature, ot reeling of the 
silk from the cocoons into the threads known as raw silk, and composed 
of fibres of a certain number of cocoons according to the size of the thread 
required. It is a most delicate untwisted product, but wanting in lustre 
on account of its containing some 25 per cent, of gum. 

3. The throwing of silk, or the process of putting the raw silk into the 
threads required for the different kinds of weaving. 

It is at the throwing that the threads are formed that figure so con- 
spicuously at the Exposition, and also in commerce, under the names of 
simples, trains, and organzines. There are also other kinds of thrown 
silk, known as marabouts, grenadines, cr&pe, sole ondee, &c. , which are 
twisted differently from trams and organzines, for special purposes. 

Let us look for a moment at the comparative value of each of these 
denominations. The singles are the raw silk after the first twist. The 
tram, or woof, is obtained by the union of two or more threads of raw 
silk, slightly twisted. The organzine, from which in general is made the 
warp, is the result of two singles twisted together. 

A product of peculiar nature, frequently used in the manufacture of 
trimmings, is the /// guvpe. It is composed of one or more straight threads, 
around which is rolled a spiral thread, the interior being generally of indif- 
ferent material, and the thread rolled around is composed of silk, gold, 
or silver. 

4. The dyeing constitutes an important specialty, requiring the great- 
est possible delicacy and skill, pure water being essential to success. 

5. The preparation of the threads for the loom is another separate and 
essential branch, requiring care and attention. 

6. The weaving embraces in itself alone several subdivisions, namely, 



20 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

the weaving of plain and cut silk goods; the weaving of velvets of 
figured stuffs more or less rich; the knitting of various articles and 
the fabrication of silk blondes or laces. 

THE SPINNING OF WASTE SILK. 

7. The preceding processes yield a certain quantity of teaste, varying 
with the nature of the operations and the qualities of the products. 

This waste is in its turn transformed from the raw state, where, after 
having been cleaned from the gummy matter, chiefly by mechanical 
means, it presents a close analogy to the strippings and windings of 
cotton and combed wool. 

These processes are the basis of great industries which flourish in 
England and on the continent. 

The threads thus produced vary in value from 30 to 60 francs the kilo- 
gram, according to then 1 fineness and quality. 

These branches of industry are now carried on to some extent by 
American manufacturers. 

EXAMINATION OF THE POSITION OF EACH OF THESE INDUSTRIES, AND 
THEIR PROGRESS AS MANIFESTED IN THE EXPOSITION. 

In the art of silk- worm breeding the question of first importance con- 
sists in the means of obtaining the graines, or eggs. Good eggs bear an 
exorbitant price. They are worth at the rate of 300 francs the kilogram, 
and still they cannot always be produced guaranteed against the prevail 
ing malady, except from Japan. 

The States of South America appear to enjoy the same immunity. At 
the commencement of the prevailing epidemic, (about the year 1846,) 
other countries furnished healthy eggs, but their exemption did not con- 
tinue after the second or third generation. Thus it is that the United 
States have been led to put all silk-producing countries under contri- 
bution. 

Will the eggs of Japan and of South America, at the present time so 
much sought after, escape this degeneracy, of which, despite the numer- 
ous investigations, we as yet do not know the cause? 

But if the cause remains concealed, the preventive means begin to be 
more clearly established. 

The following method is generally admitted and recommended by men 
recognized as the most competent judges, and since it is the combined 
result of great experience and observation, it will be read with interest 
in all countries which desire to encourage the culture of the silk-worm: 

It is of great importance to choose for reproduction cocoons of the 
largest size, and those the most successfully reared and least affected 
with the malady during the course of their development. These cocoons 
are recognized by the regularity of their form, the roundness of their 
extremities, the fineness of grain on the surface, and the solidity and 
thickness of the layers or silky envelopes. 






SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 21 

The male cocoons differ from the female by their shape and size. The 
former are smaller than the latter, and present a cavity upon their back. 
The latter are larger, presenting- the figure of an olive or the egg' of a 
small bird. 

The color of these cocoons ought to be of a golden yellow after collect- 
ing, and should exhibit no spot or stain of any kind. 

In the same breed, the heaviest cocoons are in general those which 
offer the greatest chance of affording the best reproductions. Then, after 
having put a certain number of male cocoons on one side and of female 
on the other, weigh both parts to find the average weight of each, and 
every time that this average weight is exceeded there is a presumption 
that excellent cocoons are obtained for reproduction, all other things 
being equal. 

It is, however, necessary to remark that, as one part of the cocoons 
contains sometimes the same gross measurement, it should not be con- 
founded with the normal cocoous. Cocoons of an exceptional bulk are 
in general the result of two grubs united under the same envelope. Their 
product is known under the name of "doubles." or "dougpionsf or twin 
threads. 

This sort of product is always inferior, as much because the beds or 
envelopes are almost invisible, as because the association in the work 
indicates a weakness in the subject. 

Notwithstanding all the attention and care given by the breeder to 
prevent the production of doubles, and sometimes even of triples, he 
must inevitably expect to find a certain proportion of those, the value 
of which is hardly one-third the price of the normal product. 

There was exhibited in the Exposition an apparatus contrived by an 
Italian silk husbandman, designed to prevent these doujypions in the 
breeding of worms. 

The apparatus consists in an arrangement of cells made of very light 
wood, each one of which has only the bulk necessary for a single grub. 
When these come to their full development, ready to spin their cocoon 
or boll, instead of preparing heath, shrubs, or other kinds of shelter or 
supports against which the worms are to spin, this kind of cells is sup- 
plied where each insect has its own separate case, which prevents two 
or any greater number from uniting to make a defective product. 

The Italian exhibitor is endeavoring to bring into general use this sys- 
tem of isolation or cellular breeding. 

The system presents, according to the inventor, other advantages, by 
the facility which it offers in the choice of the best reproducers, and by 
preventing the coupling between grubs of the same family, consanguinity 
having been considered as one cause of the rapid deterioration of the 
breed. 

When the coupling has been accomplished, the females are removed 
and made to lay, each in the cell reserved for her, in such a way as to be 
able to weigh separately the eggs of each laying. 



22 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

This weight is not to be inferior to a certain ascertained proportion, 
for the eggs would then be evidently bad. In order that they may offer 
good chances of success, each laying should weigh at least 60 or 70 grains, 
(per kilogram of cocoons,) each gram to contain 1,350 to 1,500 eggs on 
an average. 

THE SILK-WOBM AND ITS YAKIETIES. 

THE COMMON SILK- WORM, (BomblJX MoH.J 

The common silk-worm and the species mostly in use, and which pro- 
duces by far the best silk, is born in the spring, ordinarily about the mid- 
dle of May. It feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree and attains its 
full growth in about six weeks. 

During that period it changes its skin four times, and according to M. 
de Quatrefages, of the French Institute, increases its weight 72,000 times. 
Early in July, having reached its full development, it establishes the 
workshop of its wonderful manufacture. 

Placed in a comfortable and secure position, it proceeds to envelop 
itself in a cocoon formed by a filament of exceedingly hue silk, emitted 
from the stomach of the insect. It soon disappears in the centre of the 
cocoon or silken envelope, and, after about 72 hours of unremitting labor, 
produces a thread ordinarily not less than 1,600 yards in length. 

In that chosen retreat the silk-worm again sheds its skin, for the fifth 
time, but the insect which comes out is no longer a silk-worm, but a 
chrysalis — bearing but slight resemblance to the worm. After two weeks 
or more, according to the temperature, the skin of the chrysalis opens, 
and, changing for the last time, it becomes a butterfly, lays some hun- 
dreds of eggs, and dies. 

Besides the Bombyx Mori, there are other species of silk-worms that 
merit a brief notice, and particularly the following : 

castor-oil plant SILK- worm, (Bombyx Arrindia. ) 

This species of silk-worm is a native of Bengal and of British India. 
It lives, both in its wild and its domesticated condition, upon common 
castor-oil plants and other vegetation. It was but lately introduced into 
Europe by means of a few living cocoons imported into Malta. Their 
propagation was not only successful, but was continued in Italy, whence 
many were sent to France and the Canary islands. 

Wherever the castor-oil plant grows spontaneously, as in Algiers, Bra- 
zil and Bio de la Plata, the efforts to raise this species of silk-worm have 
been crowned with success. Its cocoons cannot be reeled in the ordi- 
nary way, but they furnish a staple which, when spun into threads, pro- 
duces fabrics of good suppleness and durability, though almost destitute 
of lustre. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 23 

AILANTHUS SILK- WORM, (Bombyx Cynthia Vent.) 

This kind of worm is indigenous to the temperate regions of China, 
where it lives mainly on the ailanthus. It has long been cultivated by 
the Chinese in the open air, and produced an elongated cocoon of a red. 
dish shade, furnishing a kind of bourn' de sole, from which is made a very 
strong and durable tissue. 

This silk-worm was introduced into Europe for the first time in L857, 
and into France in L858, where the first successful rearing of it is chiefly 
t]\\c to Madame Drouyn de Lhuys. 

But it is to M. Guerin Meneville, who, under the patronage of the 
Emperor, experimented extensively and with success, that belongs the 
credit of having given to this silk its growing importance and industrial 
value. 

the tusseii silk-worm, (Bombyx Milita.J 

This notable insect lives in a wild state in Bengal, and in the hot 
regions of India, in the woods, "where the inhabitants go to gather the 
cocoons, which arc remarkable for their size and form. Its favorite food 
is the leaves of the jujube tree. Efforts have been made repeatedly to 
reproduce it in France, but in vain. The cocoons of this insect produce 
a fine and brilliant silk, and very strong, known in India as Tusseh, of 
which large quantities are exported to Europe. 

the wild silk-worm of .japan, (Bombyx Tama Mai/. J 

Tins worm, raised from eggs sent from Japan by the consul-general of 

France at Yeddo, has been successfully reared. The oak leaf and trees 
of the same kind are its only nourishment. It does not require great 
heat, and is easy to raise. Its cocoon, of a greenish yellow, is formed 
like that of the ordinary silk-worm, and can be reeled into a beautiful 
silk. 

BOVIBYX CECROPIA. 

This description of worms, indigenous to the temperate regions of 
North America, is found principally in the Carolinas, Louisiana and Vir- 
ginia. 

In its uncultivated state it lives upon the elm, the willow, and other 
trees. It produces a large cocoon of a loose texture and coarse silk. 

At the Exposition there was a collection of silk-worms in their differ- 
ent stages. A quantity of eggs, of mulberry leaves, and all that relates 
to the rearing of the silk- worm, were also displayed there. 

The silk-worm is tender and delicate. The experiences of the last 
twenty years have proven that it is liable to epidemics, that rage with 
peculiar violence and fatality. 



24 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

THE SLLK-WOEM MALADY AND THE EEMEDIES PEOPOSED. 

During the period iu which the disease in question has attacked the 
silkworms, great research and the most minute study have been made 
to ascertain the cause. 

Some have ascribed this calamity to the mulberry ; others have com- 
pared it to a species of Asiatic cholera, or an epidemic analagous to the 
cattle distemper from which England and Germany have suffered so 
much within the last few years. 

Others have asserted that the breeder had gradually departed from 
and neglected those healthful traditions and maxims so essential to be 
observed in the breeding and rearing of such delicate creatures. 

The breeder, perceiving that he could abridge the period of rearing by 
raising the temperature of the nursery, prematurely matured unhealthy 
broods, and thence there arose numerous accidents, because by raising 
the temperature the appetite was forced, which caused derangements in 
the animal economy. 

These different causes, more or less vague and indeterminate, may 
have contributed to the development of the epidemic. However, the 
theory of disease in the mulberry is hardly admissible, considering that 
it has been demonstrated that worms of different breeds or races, nour- 
ished by the leaves of the same tree, have experienced different fates. 
Some succeeded, the others were attacked by the disease and perished ; 
therefore the food in these cases was innocent of the effect. 

In the difficulties by which we find ourselves involved in endeavoring 
to determine the cause of the malady, we have only to seek out the char- 
acter and seat of the evil, to be able a priori to reject infected subjects. 

After numerous investigations by eminent men, certain spots or bodies 
of peculiar form and appearance were discovered, with the aid of the 
microscope, in the very tissues of the diseased worms at the bottom of 
their digestive canal, evidently foreign to their organization, and in quan- 
tities proportionate to the violence of the disease. To these little spots 
or bodies the name of corpuscules was given. They are oval, transparent, 
smaller than the globules of the human blood, and resemble the globules 
of certain fermentations. 

Widely different theories prevail in regard to these corpuscules and the 
remedies required for their eradication. The distinguished savant M. 
Pasteur has come to the conclusion that it is an organic, constitutional 
affection of the insect, to destroy which either a specific remedy must be 
found, or else all the conditions favorable to the production of the cor- 
puscules must be avoided, either by obtaining eggs from countries exempt 
from the malady, or by allowing none but healthy insects to propagate. 
He has demonstrated that contact between healthy and infected worms 
does not impart the disease ; while, on the other hand, the absorption of 
a few corpuscules by feeding upon leaves washed with corpusculous water 
causes the epidemic to spread with incredible rapidity. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 25 

M. Pasteur is of the opinion that search must be made for the corpus- 
cules in the chrysalis, and he developes a very ingenious method for facil- 
itating - the discovery. 

He recommends the immediate destruction of all insects known to be 
infected, and the separation from them of the healthy ones, and enjoins 
the utmost cleanliness as an essential condition for the extirpation of 
the disease in a silk nursery. 

M. Bechamp, who has devoted great patience to the investigation, 
propounds the theory that the disease is parasitic, and that the parasite 
is of a vegetable nature of the order of fermentations, and that remedies 
like creosote will arrest if not destroy the development of these vege- 
table corpuscules. 

His mode of application is to wash the eggs in a solution of creosote, 
or diffuse an impregnating vapor through the rooms of the silk-worm 
nursery. Suffice it to say, that the methods recommended by each of 
tliese gentlemen for the extermination of the disease have been tried, 
but with only partial sue: ess ; but all concur in the opinion that the 
eggs of diseased subjects are unfit for use, and should be rejected. 

It has been demonstrated also that the grubs, the chrysalides, and 
the moths proceeding from the Japanese race or that of the South 
American states, have been to the present moment free from all trace 
of corpuscules and all symptoms of the disease. 

Practical breeders of the south of France have made very interesting 
experiments, from which it resulted that the worm when hatched and 
bred in stables or in sheep folds generally did well. 

Comparative experiments prove that the same lot of eggs divided into 
two parts gave products good in quality and quantity as to the half 
raised in the atmosphere of a stable, while the grubs of the other part 
bred under the ordinary conditions generally perished. 

These repeated trials appear to demonstrate that the grave nature of 
the affliction can be modified by the alkalinity of the atmosphere which 
developes itself in so declared a manner under the conditions of which 
we have just spoken. It is a species of treatment analogous to that of 
the water and salt of Vichy and other thermal springs. 

BEEEDLKG OF SILK-WOBMS. 

The industry whose object is the production of cocoons is composed 
of elements so special and so different from those of manufactures in 
general as to require that some details be given on the subject, partly 
agricultural and partly manufacturing. 

The basis of the labor of the sdk-worm breeder is founded in general 
on the amount of mulberry leaves consumed. These leaves constitute 
in this case the raw material. 

We will give some figures derived from localities where the population 
is relatively condensed, such as the south of France and the north of 



26 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Italy, the principal European centres for rearing the silk-worm and the 
mulberry. 

A hectare (or 2 t 4 ^l acres) of land, planted with 2,500 mulberry trees, 
produces annually an average of 5,000 kilograms of leaves. The expenses 
of all kinds for the culture of this quantity may amount to 350 francs 
a year. Then the 1,000 kilograms of leaves amount to 70 francs. The 
1,000 kilograms of leaves support a variable quantity of cocoons. In 
normal years it may amount to 60 kilograms. 

Taking the 1,000 kilograms of leaves as the unit, the average expenses 
for feeding worms for 30 grams of eggs are as follows : 

Francs. 
30 grams of eggs, with a price very variable, are at the 

maximum 15 = $3 

1,000 kilograms of leaves 70 = 14 

Manual labor of two persons during 40 days 160 = 32 

Warming and lighting 10 = 2 

Cells for cocoons, and incidental expenses 5 = 1 

Total 260 = 52 



The fresh cocoons are now worth at least eight francs the kilogram. 
It would be sufficient to obtain 32 kilograms for every 1,000 kilograms 
of leaves to pay the disbursements, and if the gatherings yield, as is 
usual in normal conditions, 50 kilograms only, this would be a gain of 50 
times eight, or 400 francs, ($80,) and if one worked on a basis of one hec- 
tare of land only, this would be a gain of 400 times five, or 2,000 francs 
($100) in six weeks. There were breeders in France who, before the epi- 
demic, produced as many as 1,000 kilograms of cocoons in a single season. 

APPAEATUS USED IX THE MANUFACTURE OF SILK. 

TOOLS OR STOCK NECESSARY TO TRANSFORM THE COCOONS INTO RAW 

SILK. 

France and Italy are the only countries which have exhibited the 
apparatus necessary to transform the cocoons into threads of silk. 
These are the most advanced in the whole of Europe in this specialty. 

The industry of Spain, of Greece, of the Levant, and of Eussia, has 
imitated as much as possible the means used in France and Italy. 
Those countries have not, however, been able to arrive at the perfection 
of their neighbors. As to the Orientals, they lose a part of the advan- 
tages which their privileged climate gives them in regard to the produc- 
tion of silk by insufficiency of care and skill in details. 

The implements, properly so-called, for converting the cocoons, are 
most simple in all countries of the world. They consist principally of a 
basin and a reel. The basin is used to receive the cocoons and some 
warm water to soften the gum of the silken envelope, so as to set free 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 27 

the threads forming the exterior silky layers. The union of a certain 
number of these threads forms the thread of commerce known by the 
name of grege, or raw silk. 

The reel, by its rotary motion, winds off the cocoons. In the factories, 
certain numbers of these winding machines are placed side by side, the 
impulsion being given to them by a single motive power. Of course the 
arrangement is such that the operator can, at will, stop any of these 
little contrivances while the others continue to work. The entirety of 
the operation is automatic, except that in regard to each reel we find a 
basin and a woman to superintend the work. The labors of the super- 
intendent consist — 

1. In the immersion of the cocoons in the warm water until the silky 
layers are sufficiently softened. 

2. In the cleansing, with a species of brush or broom, of the first lay- 
ers until they become a pure and clean thread. 

3. In the uniting by pressure and twisting a certain number of threads 
of the cocoons in proportion to the standard of raw silk intended to be 
produced. 

The grege thus formed by the union of a greater or less number of 
cocoons is passed through an orifice or drawing frame, which acts on the 
winder, whose rotation determines the development of the threads of 
the cocoons which remain immersed on the surface of the water in the 
basin, so that in proportion as the cocoons are wound off, the attendant 
is careful to add a new one, as much to keep up the supply of thread as 
to maintain the regularity of the standard. 

The cocoons being conical from the commencement to the end of the 
winding, the grege would have the greatest irregularities if the work- 
man did not conduct his work so as to connect the strongest, that is to 
say the commencement of the thread of the new cocoon, with those which 
are just being exhausted. 

The threads, issuing wet and gummy from the basin, would adhere 
and stick together in the skein if careful means were not taken to pre- 
vent it. The preventive consists first in preserving a sufficient distance 
between the basin and the reel, to permit a partial drying ; and second 
in a " guide thread" so arranged that the transport takes place by a slow 
zigzag movement, which prevents the threads from crossing each other 
at the same point at each turn, which latter causes the adhesion. 

Some suggestions will assist us to understand and to obviate the diffi- 
culties in this branch of the work. 

The degree of previous preparation should vary with the durability of 
the silky couches, having regard to the age, breed, and origin of the 
cocoons. 

If prepared too much, the result would be that more silky matter would 
be yielded by the first layers than there should be. This superfluous 
matter would be only waste, and would possess a value much inferior to 
that of fine sdk. 

If the cocoons are, on the contrary, insufficiently prepared, they pre- 



28 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

sent a resistance to the winding off, which causes the breaking of the 
thread, and leads to a new source of waste. The workman ought to 
possess great skill in joining a new thread to a thread in work. He 
should be competent to select the most opportune moment to assure the 
regularity of the product, so that the trace of these successive connec- 
tions may be imperceptible to the eye, and thus avoid knots, coarseness, 
curls, or dots. 

Eor will rare skill in these particulars produce the effect desired, unless 
the wheel revolves with a fixed and steady velocity of at least 500 metres 
per minute. Without this, the thread, instead of being smooth and 
brilliant, would be rough and dull. 

A too slow movement would not dress the thread sufficiently, clasped, 
as it is, very tightly by its peculiar position and fixed under the form of 
the figure 8 in the layers of the cocoons. A movement too slow causes 
those undulations which give the dull appearance; while the develop- 
ment of the thread in the straight line by the more rapid movement per- 
mits the reflection of the light in those perfect and determined conditions 
which give brilliancy to the finest silk. 

We have entered somewhat at length into these details because they 
will assist us to discover the many difficult sides of a question of appa- 
rent simplicity, and will enable us the better to understand why the more 
perfect development of this industry remains concentrated in the hands 
of some populations, and why automatic labor has not been able, till 
now, to bring about those elaborate and exquisite modifications in silk 
which have been produced in other textile fabrics. But if converting 
the cocoons into raw silk in a successful manner be due to local circum- 
stances, such is not the case with the industrial specialties which follow 
it, commencing with the throwing or spinning of the silk. 

Almost all European nations were represented at the Exposition by 
the different mechanisms employed in the silk manufacture. Let us take 
a glance at the machines of this character. We will first speak of the 
machinery used to sort and dress silk badly reeled, and it may be well 
to enter into some details on this subject, as it is one that particularly 
interests the American manufacturers. 

Silk of the first quality being actually as dear as silver, 1 ought to be 
employed only in the best and most perfect conditions, especially when 
it is intended to produce fabrics like those so much admired at the Expo- 
sition, and among others the truly artistic silks of Lyons. Different 
means have been devised to determine the standard of the silk thread. 
If it be pure it will have the degree of solidity and tenacity desired. The 
manufacturer is particularly ingenious in constructing apparatus to rec- 
tify, sort, and dress silks of irregular standards. 

1 In spite of the high price and the crisis in silk husbandry, silk costs much less than in 
the time of the Romans. The Emperor Aurelian refused a silk dress to his wife, assigning 
as a reason that it was too expensive a luxury even for a Roman empress, silk then being 
sold for its weight in gold, pound for pound. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 29 



APPARATUS TO SORT, TO PROVE, AND TEST THE QUALITIES AND PROP- 
ERTIES OF SILK. 

Silk thread has more need to be sorted or numbered than the thread 
of other substances ; the sorting or numbering is to determine the rela- 
tion of the unity of weight to the unity of length. For silk the unity of 
weight is generally the denier or fraction of the ancient Uvre of Mont- 
pellier, and the denier is equivalent to 0.53 of the Uvre. 

The unit of length is 400 aunes, representing 475 metres, or 515 yards. 
Thus, when we say a silk of § deniers, we mean that a thread of it of 
475 metres of length weighs from eight to nine deniers. 1 

Efforts are being made to modify this standard and to substitute the 
unit of 500 metres for the 475 metres, and the milligram for the denier, 
in order to make the system conform to the metrical system. 

The rectification of the standard of silk seems to be more necessary 
than that of other valuable materials, because, from the manner silk is 
produced, we are far less sure to arrive at regularity than by the auto- 
matic process practiced for the conversion of cotton, wool, &c. 

Besides, as silk, from its nature and price, is intended for the dearest 
kind of products, the material employed in its manufacture ought to be 
so much the more perfect. The mode of titrage generally used in all 
periods consists in winding off a certain length, and the determination 
of the weight of this length. The less it weighs, the finer, of course, the 
silk will be. 

It is considered, for example, that if 500 metres weigh one milligram, 
it will be one-half more fine than if it weighed two milligrams, supposing 
always that its hygroinetric and thermometric condition does not change 
during the operations. The same unit of length will weigh more if it 
contains humidity than if it be perfectly dry. 

The public establishments of Europe to ascertain the condition of silk 
have for their specific object to determine, in an exact manner, the real 
state of the silk, its degree of humidity, and the absolute weight of this 
same foreign matter, as if the silk were perfectly dry. 

Establishments of this kind, it is well known, exist in the principal 
manufacturing centres of the trade in silk and wool. They generally 
operate under the direction of the various chambers of commerce. 

These means of control offer a great security to business, but unhap- 
pily they can do nothing to verify or establish the regularity of the 
threads. 

The titrage gives, in effect, only the relation between the weight and 
the length, but indicates nothing as to the homogeneity of the thread. 
Each determinate length of a skein may have identical weight without 
the thread being regular. For examine, if a skein of 10,000 metres pre- 
sents an equal titre or standard for each 1,000 metres, that would not 
demonstrate that upon this length there may not be parts alternately 

1 Condition publique des soies et des laines, bureau de titrage. Decret du 2 Mai, 1853. 



30 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

coarse and fine. This effect happens much more frequently with the 
silks that are poorly worked, on account of their low relative price. 

Some sellers in China, Japan, and the Levant, strive, with great per- 
sistency, to ascertain and rectify these irregularities of thread by the 
windings off. During this process, when the eye discovers the defects, 
they are removed by the hand; but this is a slow, expensive operation, 
and anything but sure. 

The Swiss exhibition contained an automatic apparatus which arrives 
much more efficiently and economically at the result sought for. 

THE SILK-SORTING APPARATUS OF G. HONNEGER, SWITZERLAND. 

This machine receives on the one part a series of skeins of silk. To 
each skein correspond a number of bobbins or reels, equal to that of the 
varied bidk supposed to be contained in the skein. 

The solution of the problem consists in collecting on each bobbin 
thread of the same fineness. Let us suppose five bobbins from No. 1 to 
No. 5. Each will receive the portion of the thread of the titre for which 
it shall have been designated. For this purpose the thread which is 
rendered from the skein to the bobbins is guided automatically by a 
mechanism for gauging, extremely sensitive, and so arranged that the 
grtye or raw silk in passing acts upon a lever which directs the silk upon 
the proper bobbin. 

The variation in the bulk of the product is the point of departure in 
the variation of the guide lever, which directs the thread to the reel 
proper to receive it. 

A glance at the working of this apparatus enables us to understand 
it better than woidd the most elaborate description. 

By the employment of this machine the cheap silk of the east can 
hereafter find still more extensive applications, and contribute to a new 
development in silk industry. 

AN APPARATUS TO TRY THREADS BY PROFESSOR ALCAN. 

Another apparatus of great utility was exhibited by Professor Alcan 
in the French section. It is an instrument of rare precision, very simple, 
not expensive, and works with great facility. Its object is to test the 
tenacity and elasticity of filaments and threads, and to determine the 
degree of tension most suitable to be employed on any given thread. 

The mechanism of this instrument, though not at all complicated, has 
been explained in detail, with its applications, by the inventor, in 
several works very popular in France, particularly in his treatise upon 
the textile arts, one of which is entitled a On Cotton Labor," and the 
other "On the Manufacture of Wool." 

These works of M. Michel Alcan, Professor of the Conservatoire Im- 
perial des Arts et Metiers de Paris are to be obtained by the publisher, 
J. Baudry, Paris. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 31 

We name these works because they give a greater amount of informa- 
tion upon the production of raw material and upon the progress of this 
industry than any other works within our knowledge. 

Near this machine at the Exposition is another apparatus called 
Experimmtateur I'liro.sodi/iuonique, to prove threads; and also anew ma- 
chine to prepare and open cotton before the ginning, both the produc- 
tion of Professor Alcan. This eminent engineer has made, as we have 
seen, a special study of the industrial questions which are of such vast 
importance to the American people. 

IMPLEMENTS AND APPARATUS USED IN SILK-THROWING. 

Themachines for "silk-throwing" seen at the Exposition have remained, 
as far as fundamental principles are concerned, in the same general con- 
dition wherein they were at the origin of automatic industry; but they 
have been improved in their details, and in the harmony of their execu- 
tion. 

The Swiss manufacturers, especially, have exhibited a remarkable col- 
lection of implements in this department. 

The assortment as thus exposed, and which is employed in the best 
factories, consists — 

1. Of series of tavelles to wind, clean, and equalize the threads dur- 
ing their automatic winding off. 

2. Of an apparatus to unite and double the threads with a mechanism 
for instantly stopping the machine whenever a thread breaks. 

3. Of a machine to give the first twist to the double threads in the 
direction determined for the production of the tram or woof. 

4. Of a second machine to retwist together two threads already twisted 
separately, thus producing the organzine. 

The object of these machines, so simple in their construction, is to 
obtain constantly an evenly twisted product — that is to say, worked in 
such a manner that each unit of length receives exactly the same num- 
ber of turns. 

Now the realization of this object was not effected without encounter- 
ing difficulties which have been completely surmounted by the Swiss 
and French mechanicians, judging as well from the machines as from 
the magnificent threads exhibited. 

This class of machinery is the more advanced because the machines 
to convert silk are, of all others, the cheapest, and this results directly 
from their greater simplification. 

The " throwing" the threads of silk has several objects in view. 

1. It gives them a sufficient resistance to admit of their being boded 
in soapy water to remove the gummy matter, so that they may receive 
the dye better and give greater brilliancy than if they had remained in 
the raw state. 

2. By the ungumming the silk acquires the desired suppleness of silks 
called " boiled," whilst if it retained its gum it would be stiff and rough, 
like the silks employed iu bareges, for example. 



32 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

3. The throwing the silk is intended to give a certain peculiar appear- 
ance to the threads, which partly determines what is called the grain 
of the stuff. 

Moreover, when these threads are intended for brilliant tissues, such 
as satins, the two successive torsions which constitute the organzine are 
combined in such a manner that the last, which will be the most appa- 
rent, should have the least twist in order to preserve the brilliancy of the 
stuff. 

The combination is inverted if the object be to make threads for 
taffetas, gros grain, gros de Naples, &c. 

The work of silk-throwing, by the combination of the varied conditions 
it requires, necessitates the possession of such accurate knowledge, and 
the use of such rare skill as to constitute it a special art. 

SIMULTANEOUS REELING AND THROWING. 

It has been frequently attempted, and is sometimes still sought, to 
unite in one single operation the winding off of the cocoons and the 
throwing of the silk. Notwithstanding that for a long time the solution 
of this problem, which apparently presents no serious difficulty, has been 
considered as the philosopher's stone of silk industry, the effort has not 
been abandoned. Still in this department, as certain mechanism ex- 
hibited by the Italians and French attest, the problem offers but little 
interest or encouragement ; as for example, to wind off the cocoons 
and twist the thread at the same time, the raw silk or grege in issuing 
from the basins, instead of being passed on to the reels by one simple 
movement, is rolled around bobbins having a rotary motion, in order to 
give torsion to the threads. 

It is necessary to direct two of them together upon one bobbin to 
produce the tram ; consequently the intermediate operations are all sup- 
pressed and condensed into one single process, and hence an apparent 
economy; but, in fact, this economy disappears and the new mode 
becomes comparatively expensive, because the production is considera- 
bly reduced and because it requires a much larger personal attendance. 

A few figures will suffice to demonstrate this. To produce the grege, 
the velocity most suitable is such that one workman throws out at least 
a length of 500 metres of thread a minute. 

When the thread is twisted at the same time only 500 revolutions are 
given per metre to it in the majority of cases. Suppose a velocity of 
3,000 revolutions to the spindles, only six metres will be produced instead 
of 500 a minute. It is true a workwoman can superintend four threads 
instead of one, but it will still be necessary to employ twenty times as 
many spinners in this case as when the production of the grege was 
in question. • 

Now this augmentation of expense is much more considerable than the 
economy realized by the suppression of the intermediate operations. 
But the most serious difficulty consists in the imperfection of the results. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 33 

The slowness of motion in the simultaneous twisting and throwing docs 
not permit a suitable development to be given to the thread, nor a 
sufficient tension for the entire unwinding which causes the dart aspect 
of the product already spoken of. 

In a word, by the combination of different operations, the workman 
is not able to bestow upon his task that care in cleansing and purifying 
which is performed by the automatic system and by hand as it exists in 
careful silk-throwing. 

Thus the apparent progress, so enticing in appearance, demands an 
expense much more considerable than that of the separate operations 
mentioned, and can only give inferior products of inconsiderable value. 

In order that they may be forewarned, these facts are worthy of special 
notice by the American people, who arc only beginning to turn their 
attention to this branch of industry. 

However, all new attempts may reach ultimate success; and if it be 
true that for beautiful normal products the simultaneous twisting and 
throwing must be rejected, there are cases where they may be employed. 

and, indeed, where they begin to be employed with a certain success; 
as for example, when the cocoons are of an inferior quality, and difficult 

to wind off, such as double COCOOns, so that the operator in twisting them 
directly can, at the best, obtain silk of only a very inferior grade, lit only 
for working common cordonnet, (braid, binding, twist, lace, &c.) In 
Such case the simnlt aneoiis process may be advantageously \isi>d. And, 
indeed, cocoons, wound and doubled and twisted simultaneously, in older 
to make directly from them certain products intended for passementeries 
or trimmings, have no need of such careful superintendence as would be 
required in regard to the same cocoons when intended to produce the 
more beautiful silks. A. single person can attend a greater number of 
ends, (or bouts,) inasmuch as these coarse articles are far less liable to 
break. 

There are then two conditions which permit the employment of the 
simultaneous system with advantage. 

1. When the object to be attained is not an imperfect grfye, but a 
cordonnet for trimmings, of a sufficiently good quality, and at a price 
relatively high ; and 2d, in cases where the expense of hand labor is con- 
siderably reduced in consequence of the character and destiny of the 
special product — one person under such circumstances being able to 
produce very much more than he otherwise would by the ordinary 
process. 

PRODUCTION AND UTILITY OF SILK WASTE. 

The different transformations undergone by silk, up to this point, and 
those it has still to undergo until it arrives at the state of " stuff," 
occasions " waste." 

This waste presents itself in different states. Those resulting from 
the operations which precede the torsion offer parcels of raw filaments 
3s 



34 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

(grege) not twisted, known by the name of frisons, or waste from reel- 
ing cocoons. 

There are frisons of different qualities, according to the period of 
preparation given to them, or according as they proceed from cocons 
degraines or perces. In this case the waste is more particularly desig- 
nated by the name golette, from which are made coarse silks called 
fantaisie, chappe, &c. 

The waste proceeding from the different manipulations, commencing 
with the winding off of the grege, in the throwing, and the operations 
of weaving, is generally composed of twisted ends, and is known by 
the name of bourre. 

These two sorts of debris have been long utilized. They are divided, 
cleansed, ungummed, and then equalized by cutting to prepare them for 
twisting, as we have already said. But there is another kind of waste, 
long neglected, and which has commenced to be utilized only since the 
very high price of silk, namely, the chiffons, or rags of this material. 
Establishments of this kind are very rare; one exists in England, one 
in France, and a third in the United States. We have no knowledge of 
any other. 

As to the winding of waste, we must limit ourselves to pointing out a 
certain progress, of which threads of this kind have been the subject as 
well in France as in Switzerland. 

NEW THREADS OF SILK BOURRE. 

We have seen, in the show cases of the Exhibition of these two 
countries, threads from bourre, (a sort of shoddy,) which rival in the 
beauty of their appearance the most lustrous silks, and at one-half the 
price. 

These results are obtained by attention to details in the manufacture. 
All these operations have attained remarkable precision, and have been 
executed conformably to the indications of science, and by the applica- 
tion of certain preparations under special conditions. When the threads 
have been produced with the greatest care from waste, well purified, well 
combed, perfectly prepared and spun, the workman then proceeds to 
a PPly a thin layer or coating of warm gelatine or isinglass to the thread 
when stretched and in motion. 

The drying and ulterior chevillage completes the work, and imparts 
to the products that peculiar brilliancy so much esteemed, and that 
elasticity so indispensable to manufactures of this kind. 

The unusual care and attention brought to the working up of waste 
have been necessitated, as we have said, by the rise in the price of this 
material. It is not many years since the waste, which at present sells 
at from 12 to 15 francs, was worth only four or five francs, the kilogram. 

This fact alone is sufficient to justify the efforts made to utilize waste 
of every description. 

Formerly certain sweepings of threads were thrown on the waste heap 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 35 

which the workmen knew not how to unravel; but for the disintegration 
of these the most ingenious and effective machines have been devised. 

These machines take the rag or piece of silk at its entrance, restore it 
at its exit in the form of filaments, carefully classed in lengths and fine- 
ness, proper to be submitted to the machines for decomposing the chiffon 
or rag. 

The inventors have not exhibited these machines, from fear of imitation 
by countries where inventions are not protected by patents. Prussia 
and Switzerland are in this condition, and they are precisely the countries 
which would derive the greatest advantage from their use. 

DYEING AND SURCHARGE OF THREADS. 

We have but little to say on the dyeing of silk, so brilliant in itself, 
and advanced to such an extraordinary degree of perfection. 

No kind of material offers more splendor in this respect. 

The invention of those colors derived from coal has principally con- 
tributed to or caused this revolution in the art of dyeing. The new 
materials have permitted dyers to obtain colors of unprecedented splen- 
dor, combining shades of marvellous variety with extreme delicacy. 
Looking through the Exhibition we might almost say, in the presence 
of the results obtained in this direction, there is now nothing impossible. 
Still, close by the side of products so admirable in respect to dyeing, we 
saw, on the contrary, much still left to be accomplished. We refer to 
the attempts made for some time to gild and silver threads of silk. Some 
specimens of silk of this kind exhibited denote processes still in a crude 
state, which do not yet supply any product capable of being used advan- 
tageously. 

Another branch of dyeing is, on the contrary, in a very advanced 
state; sometimes too advanced. 

Reference is here made to the means used to surcharge silks, so as to 
make them gain, if one wished it, as much as one hundred per cent. 
upon their normal weight. 

This process has an honest origin, and sometimes its applications are 
honest ; but it is not unfrequently used for purposes of gross deception. 
For example, when the threads and tissues are sold by length or by sur- 
face, these surcharges have no other result than to give a certain appear- 
ance to the article, while the thickness of the tissue plays no other part 
here than that which frequently results from the stiffness of stuffs of this 
sort, without any detriment to the buyer. But, on the other hand, when 
the threads and even the tissues are sold by weight, it makes the pur- 
chaser pay the price of silk for a considerable quantity of foreign matter 
which, sometimes, has not a fortieth part of the value of silk. 

Nevertheless the authors of these operations, whose main object is to 
give increased weight to silk, are tolerated and even rewarded at the 
Exhibition, under the pretext that they thereby aid in meeting foreign 
competition. 



36 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

These are specious pretexts which ought to be made known. As these 
efforts for facilitating the best employment of waste are worthy to be 
pointed out and recommended, so, on the contrary, these reprehensible 
practices are to be deplored and condemned. 

WEAVING. 

THE WEAVING OF STUFFS OF ONE COLOR, VELVETY, OR PILED FABRICS. 

We observed at the Exhibition some plain silks made in France, 
Switzerland, and northern Germany, leaving nothing in this department 
to desire. 

This result proves, that if the automatic working of plain silk goods 
be not yet general, it results from special causes in the organization of 
the fabrics, rather than from difficulties in the execution of the work, 
for the perfect specimens hereinbefore mentioned were exhibited with 
the special notice that the weaving was done by motive power. 

We examined with care the looms by which this result has been 
attained. Looms of this kind were exhibited in the English, French, 
and Swiss sections of the Exposition. The two latter nations have more 
especially applied themselves to the construction of looms intended for 
silk weaving, while the English looms, being adapted to more general 
use in the weaving of almost every kind of fabrics, are not so well fitted 
to the weaving of silk, which demands particular care and special adap- 
tation. 

The Swiss and French also make the canettes for the tram, the our- 
dissoirs, destined to dispose the chaine, and the arrangements for raising 
and advancing it on the loom. 

They thus have an appearance peculiarly their own. Competent men 
quickly observe that certain alterations, which influence only the pro- 
portions and relations between the different means generally used in all 
looms of this kind, and, in this case, important modifications. 

These changes are especially employed in utilizing the peculiar elasti- 
city of silk, so as to obtain from it the regularity which the interlacing 
of threads in silk goods demands, and also to be better able to secure 
cleanness, purity, and brilliancy. 

By the side of the machines and apparatus of which we have just 
spoken was exhibited, a French machine, to polish automatically these 
same stuffs. This machine, alike ingenious and efficacious, possesses all 
the advantages of hand polishing, acting with only a little polish and 
in parts. 

All these machines have great value and interest for American industry; 
and it is the same with the automatic looms for the manufacture of velvet 
stuffs, such as plush for hats, &c. 

These automatic looms may be arranged in two classes. The one class 
works two pieces at one time ; the other only one. Both have their 
special object and employment. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 37 

The loom which makes two pieces at the same time is furnished with 
three chains superposed, the one above the other, at suitable distances. 
The middle chain is intended to supply the thread which, by the coupe" 
or cutting, forms the velvet surface. The middle chain, or chaine depoil, 
has a much greater length than that of the other two. It is proportional 
to the length of the piece multiplied by the height <>f the dovet, and by 
the number of boucles or Loops necessary to each of them. 

The interfacings in the weaving of these three clmines are such that 
they form two toiles or fabrics, between which is interlaced a certain 
height of the thread of the chaine. This height is exactly and auto- 
matically separated in two by the middle one, in order to supply the 
velvet surface to each piece, which, thus separated, is then rolled upon 
a roller as fast as the section is worked. 

Various articles in silk, and especially the most beautiful plushes for 
hats, are executed in this manner. 

Tins system is more particularly suited to plain articles wherein the 
duvet, without the intervention of the baguettes or small rings employed 
in hand-weaving, necessitates a certain height, and can he employed to 
manufacture facormees or figured stuffs and very smooth velvets. 

The automatic work in smooth and tine velvets has yet only reached 
the extent of weaving one piece at a time. The operation is effected by 
the insertion of irons to determine the boucles or loops which remain 
closed in the work of velvet /rise. The iron is withdrawn when a certain 
number of boucles or Loops are fixed by interlacements. 

If, on the contrary, the object is to make velvet coupe, it is effected by 
cutting at the top each of these loops or boucles. 

Thus, to the ordinary functions of weaving machines, it is necessary 
in the weaving of velvets to add combinations, which place and with- 
draw baguettes to form the frisure in which these baguettes are placed, 
and act as a knife or plane to cut these same loops in order to produce 
CUt velvet. 

These problems have been solved in the most successful manner by 
the looms at the Exposition. It need hardly be suggested that a per- 
sonal examination of the machines above mentioned would give a far 
clearer idea of their structure and mode of operation than could the 
most elaborate description. The same may be said of the machines 
hereinafter noticed. 

If from plain articles we pass to striped and plaid silks, in the execu- 
tion of which Scotch industry has long excelled, we shall encounter some 
difficulty and embarrassment in choosing from among the numerous 
automatic looms now multiplied to a marvellous extent, permitting the 
frame to change spontaneously a greater or less number of trams of dif- 
ferent colors. The numerous looms of this kind exhibited demonstrate 
the activity and necessity of research in this direction, and also the 
energy with which science and skill are employed on all those problems 
whose solution can lead to utility and economy. 



38 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

It is not only in articles of an ordinary character that this tendency is 
observable. It is no less remarkable in silks of the richest devices, and 
especially in the most beautiful articles of Lyons adapted as well for 
dresses as for furniture. 

THE WEAVING OP FACONNES. 

It is worthy of note that despite the increasing dearness of silk thread 
these silks, so very rich in all the perfection of their manufacture, are 
not sensibly increased in price. 

Never perhaps have the stuffs of Lyons displayed more taste than now. 
[Never have they or those of Tours exhibited greater beauty and perfec- 
tion. 

Among the silks for toilette we remark, especially in thefaeonues or 
figured goods, a fineness and neatness that seemed almost impossible 
till now, which denote a superiority to which French industry alone has 
yet arrived. 

There are also combination armures and moires as the basis of tissues, 
demonstrating that there no longer exist difficulties in this direction. 

It was sufficient to traverse the gallery of the French machines to be 
fully impressed with these views. Ingenuity has been tasked in a thou- 
sand different ways to simplify the elements of the Jacquard loom and 
render it capable of producing still more extensive results. 

It secures economy in the use of the cards, necessitated by this manu- 
facture, by diminishing the surface of holes, or troiis, and of the folds 
which separate them, in such a manner as to make them contain more in 
a given surface. 

Besides the cards entirely dispensed with and replaced by a simple 
sheet of paper, further on, there is an ingenious combination which pre- 
mits the same card to serve twice successively and to produce two differ- 
ent effects, and enables it also to economize at least 50 per cent, of cards. 

There are savings of another kind in the automatic execution of stitch- 
ing, due to the introduction of an additional organ into the frame to make 
fagonnes le battant broeheur. 

Blonde, an article in silk imitating lace, is also exhibited by both Eng- 
land and France. This article, made automatically, and which for years 
has displayed the most elegant designs, now presents devices the most 
capricious and seducing. These results are attained by the combination 
of the net lace frame with the principle of the Jacquard frame, skilfully 
modified in its applications. 

Until now, manufacturers were content to vary the designs and multi- 
ply the figures, and hence a single loom of this kind produced with con- 
siderable economy hundreds of bandes at once. But that was not suffi- 
cient. The industry of Calais (the centre of the tulle and blonde trade of 
France) had just created an article essentially different from ordinary 
lace and blonde. It was obtained by the interlacement of threads acting 
exclusively in the direction of the chaine in the tissues a maille, to which 
we have alluded. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 39 

A transversa] thread of the tram made a part of the tissue, the phy- 
siognomy of which and the mode of interlacing being - thns essentially 
modified. The modifications, proceeding from an additional cross-thread 
could he cairied upon the risea n.r from the bottom, and those of the 
fagonnee at the same time. 

A new and vast field thus opens to the specialty of reticular tissues. 
already so rich in fancy articles. Perhaps also this kind of stuff will 
pass from silk to cotton, and to other substances, and ultimately give 
results analogous to those of a species of gauze, which is produced, if 
not with great difficulty, at least with great slowness, and at considera- 
ble cost. 

The new article may probably serve as tissues for sifting flour and all 
kinds of plaster substances. 

The mechanical means by which these results are attained, and many 
others into the details of which we cannot now enter, combining with the 
use in a greater and constantly increasing extent of cheap silks, demon- 
strate a gratifying progress in this direction. 

SILK RIBBONS. 

We have only spoken briefly of ribbons from a technical point of view, 
because this industry was represented at the Exposition by but one loom, 
that for velvet, sent by M. Joyot, jr.. 

As to the products, they were exhibited for the most part collectively by 
the manufacturers of Saint Etienne, Basle, Prussia, Alsace, and other 
sections. 

Saint Etienne contains 1)0,000 inhabitants, and with its suburbs gives 
employment to 23,622 persons, of which the greater part are women and 
girls. It has L5J000 looms. According to the Chamber of Commerce, 
the value of its productions for the year 1806 was 60,000,000 francs. 
(112,000,000,) five-sixths of which was disposed of to the United States. 
England, and to the city of Paris. 

The canton of Basle, with a population of 65,000 inhabitants, has about 
6,000 looms for the manufacture of ribbons in the city of Basle alone. 
The manufacturers, many of whom are of the first order, employ from 
300 to 400 hands each, while some few employ a much larger number. 
The United States takes the largest quantity of these goods. Then comes 
England, whose trade in continental silks has greatly augmented since 
the last treaty of commerce with France. It was at Guebwiller, in 
Alsace, that steam was first employed in the manufacture of ribbons. 
One may see there a mode ribbon factory which employs 600 persons, 
and contains 200 looms driven by a steam engine of 30-horse power. 

DEPENDENCE OF SILK MANUFACTURERS UPON THE EAST. 

In view of the vast capital invested in silk industry, and especially in 
silk manufactures, by leading European nations, and the great number 
of their people employed in its prosecution, we may, in the presence of 



40 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

the crisis which has overtaken their silk husbandmen on account of the 
prevailing malady, pertinently ask what would have been the fate of the 
industry and the condition of its employes had not the extreme east 
been able to supply them with raw material in quantities sufficient to 
meet the exigency ? And what advantages have not the nations of Asia 
derived from being thus brought into closer relations with the more ele- 
vated and advanced nations of western Europe? Notwithstanding the 
relatively low price at which they can supply their silks, they could not, 
a quarter of a century since, have anticipated so high a price as they are 
now receiving. Nor is this the only advantage resulting to these oriental 
nations from this species of traffic with the silk manufacturers of Europe. 
It will teach them how to bring their products to greater perfection at 
home, and will stimulate them to prepare them with such care, and bestow 
upon them such an amount of skilled labor, as to draw from them all the 
value and profit that comports with the excellence of their nature. 

BESUME AND CONCLUSION. 

The manufacture of silk as already analyzed, and as it exists in coun- 
tries the most advanced in the art, embraces seven special branches of 
industry, viz: 

1. The rearing of the silk-worms. 

2. The filature or reeling of the silk from the cocoons. 

3. The throwing or spinning of the sdk thread. 

4. The dyeing of the silk. 

5. The preparation of the silk threads for the looms. 

6. The weaving of silk goods. 

7. The spinning of waste sdk. 

These specialties, although consequent and dependent each upon the 
others like links in a chain, can nevertheless be practiced separately, as 
is the case now in some countries. 

We have demonstrated that some of these employments present more 
difficulties than others to countries which, like the United States, have 
not yet had sufficient experience therein. America can, however, hope 
henceforth to excel in these industries whenever she resolutely wills it, 
and devotes to them that energy and skill which have placed her in the 
first rank among nations for certain of her inventions and manufactures- 
Let her not be disheartened at her efforts in this branch of industry, 
already most praiseworthy, and especially so in New Jersey, Connecticut, 
New York and Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and California: but let her 
press on and bring to this new enterprise that genius of investigation 
and energy in execution which have attracted to her so much attention, 
and attained for her such honorable distinction in the Universal Exhibi- 
tion of 1807. 

Concerning the seven industrial branches employed in the transforma- 
tions of silk, four can from this period develop themselves without any 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 41 

difficulty, and soon take, in America, the high position already attained 
by cotton industry, namely : 

1. The throwing - of the sdk, consisting in the employment of apparatus 
more simple and also less difficult to direct than the greater part of the 
machines in the factories of the United States. As to the raw material, 
it is as easy for the United States as for England to immediately supply 
herself with raw silk in China, Japan, and even in the Levant and India. 
It is by no means improbable that at no distant day New York will 
become as important a depot of Asiatic silks as London now is. This 
may be accomplished via San Francisco through the medium of the 
Pacific railway. The raw material having thus reached New York, will 
be distributed not only among our own manufacturers, but portions 
doubtless will be exported to foreign countries. Let the New World take 
England as an example in silk industry. In less than half a century the 
silk manufacture of Great Britain (which does not produce a single pound 
of silk ui)on her own soil) has arrived at such a degree of development 
as to give employment to a large amount of capital and to about 110,000 
looms, and direct occupation to sonic 200,000 persons, not including those 
engaged in the ribbon and silk hosiery manufacture. 

2. The dyeing of silk, already an established branch of American 
industry, needs only the encouragement to be derived from the estab- 
lishment of co-operative branches to compete successfully with Euro- 
pean skill. 

The preparatory processes of ungumming, cleansing, and scorning, are 
very simple operations, and can be entered upon without delay. 

3. As to the regeneration and spinning of silky waste of all kinds, the 
United States find themselves in as good a position as most other coun- 
tries to undertake a work of this sort, inasmuch as they possess equal 
facilities for procuring the waste and raw silk. 

Who can doubt, therefore, that this will soon become an important 
branch of American industry ''. 

In the manufacture of passementerie or trimmings, made to a great 
extent of silk waste, there are employed in Paris alone 8,500 persons, 
producing annually products to the value of about $8,000,000. 

This branch of industry throughout France occupies more than 30,000 
hands, and the entire annual production exceeds $20,000,000. It is one 
of the occupations which, like the manufacture of ribbons and laces, 
employs the largest number of women and children, who earn from 20 to 
GO cents per day. 

The wages depend both upon the skill of the laborer and the nature 
of the work. Men earn from 00 cents to $1 50 per day. 

St. Etieime is noted for its fashionable dress trimmings ; St. diamond 
for its excellent cords, braids, and stay-laces, employing about 2,000 
frames, or metiers a la ponpee, in weaving stay-laces alone. 

Most of these articles are extensively copied by foreign manufacturers 



42 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

from samples obtained in Paris. A system has been inaugurated there 
for promptly supplying samples of all novelties in silk fabrics by the 
payment of a yearly subscription. 

4. With regard to the automatic weaving of plain stuffs, the United 
States already compete successfully with the more experienced nations 
of Europe. It is gratifying to know that the looms exhibited by Amer- 
ican constructors have been highly appreciated for their ingenious con- 
trivances and remarkable improvements. 1 

There remain, then, three specialties, to excel in which time will be 
necessary to obtain the experience requisite for complete success. This 
our countrymen will indubitably acquire in due season, if they will only 
bring to the task their usual sagacity and proverbial perseverance. 

These specialties are: 

1. The rearing of silk- worms. 

2. The reeling of the cocoons into raw silk. 

3. The Aveaving of figured goods more or less rich. 
We will speak of them in their order: 

First. As to rearing of the silk- worm. The most important element 
in this matter seems to be solved, namely: the culture of the mulberry. 
The various previous trials in the United States already mentioned have 
proved that large sections of the country are admirably suited to the 
growth of this tree, so indispensable to the rearing of the worm. And 
from what has already been shown it may be inferred that if the breed- 
ing of silk-worms has not been hitherto entirely successful, it is probably 
because that, at the periods of these early attempts, the agricultural 
population was not sufficiently instructed in details, and therefore failed 
in 'some essential particulars, or lacked somewhat of that patience which 
the French and Italian cultivators bring to this particular pursuit. But 
with an* increase of experience, daily augmented by recruits to our pop- 
ulation from the skilled labor of Europe and China, with individualities 
and talents the most diverse and elastic, with abundance of capital seek- 
ing investment, and above all, with our fertile and remunerative soils, 
and the superior climatic conditions of large sections of our country, it 
is not possible that new trials, judiciously conducted, should fail of 
success. 2 

1 The looms exhibited by Mr. M. Opper, of New York, Mr. George Crompton, of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, and tbe knitting machine of Mr. J. W. Lamb, of Rochester, attracted 
special attention, and a silver medal was awarded for each. 

3 As a proof how the introduction of this industry into a locality will enhance the prosper- 
ity of a whole people, an interesting fact may be cited from a recent French publication. 
An officer in the French army, having seen during an Italian campaign to what degree th e 
cultivation of the mulberry tree and its attendant silk husbandry were enriching the popu- 
lation, resolved to introduce it into the little vale in the commune of Valleraugue, where he 
owned an estate. Soon after the introduction there was obtained there only some 2,000 kilo- 
grams, of very poor unsalablo cocoons. But, after a few years, 200,000 kilograms, of an 
excellent quality, were produced annually, valued at 1,000,000 of francs, (say $200,000,) 
which sum was mostly diffused among the rural laboring population of a village of 4,000 
inhabitants. The work was carried on in the following manner: the well-to-do proprietors 



■ SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 43 

Second. The reeling or filature of the cocoons into raw vsilk, which 
conies next in order, constitutes, perhaps, one of the processes the most 
difficult to teach, and especially in localities wanting in experience in 
this particular branch of silk industry. 

The superiority of the French and Italian silks over Asiatic silks is 
generally owing to the perfection of reeling. The success of this process 
depends, in a large measure, upon the care and watchfulness of the 
attendant, especially so far as the perfection of the product is concerned. 

The rapid analysis above made of this kind of labor may assist us to 
understand the difficulty that besets this branch of the work; but we 
shall render it still more palpable by saying that the most experienced 
workwomen can hardly produce more than 300 grams (or 12 ounces) 
in good sdk of the ordinary qualities obtained from five or six cocoons 
per thread, of which the quality or fineness is from 10 to 12 denier, being 
24,000 yards per ounce. 

Nevertheless, the country which produces the most skilful ami careful 
spinners of wool and cotton manufactures will not despair of arriving 
eventually at the successful production of the many kinds of silk goods 
so clearly within its province. 

Third. Though we feel assured that the industry of the United kStates 
will soon largely develop itself in the weaving of plain, striped, and plaid 
silks, of velvets, of plain ribbons, and other silk fabrics, simple in their 
character, yet we cannot conceal the fact that long and patient study is 
necessary to produce articles of sufficient novelty and artistic skill to 
compete with European industry, and more particularly with that of 
Lyons, which shines with a brilliancy peculiarly its own. 

The great experience, cultivated taste, and extensive knowledge of the 
French, have made this specialty with them a veritable art. 

The employment of Jacquard looms forms the basis of success in 
textile fabrics. But although this loom is universally in use, the effects 
it can produce have been nowhere pushed to so great an extent as in 
France, and particularly in Lyons. 

The same may be said of Calais in its application of the Jacquard to 
blondes, or figured silk laces. 

The Exposition proves, by products of this kind, that henceforth to 
automatic labor almost nothing is impossible. 

The magnificent specimens of lace there displayed, which imitate and 
well nigh rival the most exquisite and elaborate efforts obtained by the 
slow and tedious process of hand labor, are now the results of the motive 
power of steam, while the functions of the workmen are limited to a 
superintendence which becomes almost a sinecure on account of the 
admirable precision and perfect execution of these machiues. 



gave out the silk-worrn eggs to the laborers, upon the condition that a quintal (100 pounds) 
of cocoons be returned for every ounce of eggs ; also, giving them a sufficient quantity of 
mulberry leaves to feed the worms hatched from the eggs, and a certain quantity more. The 
cocoons produced from the surplus constituted the profit of the silk-worm cultivators. 



44 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

It is thus that fabrics, alike beautiful and useful, once ranked among 
articles of luxury, and accessible only to the wealthy, are each day 
rendered more available to the masses, contributing both to the prosper- 
ity of the producer and the gratification of the consumer. So far from 
despairing of ultimate success in rivalling the most elaborate and bril- 
liant productions of Europe in this department of industry, the people 
of the United States may take courage from the fact that already a most 
successful beginning has been made in silk weaving. 

Paterson, New Jersey, and Hartford, Manchester, and Mansfield, Con- 
necticut, are already noted for their extensive silk manufactures. 

For many years past all the sewing silk and twist used in the United 
States have been of home manufacture. 1 The same is, in a measure, 
true of pongee handkerchiefs. Eapid progress is being made in the 
weaving of ribbons, braids, trimmings, fringes, and various kinds of 
dress goods. 

More especially may Americans be encouraged to prosecute this 
industry in view of the exemption of our continent from the malady 
among silk-worms now prevailing in Europe. 

The devastation carried by the epidemic can hardly be overestimated. 
The steady advance of the malady threatens to embrace within its 
widening circles the silk- growing countries of the east, and thus cut oft 
one of the main sources whence European manufacturers draw their 
supplies of raw material. 

The calamity has thrown a pall over silk industry in all its brandies. 
In the course of a speech on agriculture, delivered last year in the Corps 
Legislatif, M. Thiers said that the annual loss to silk culture in France 
from this cause alone, for several years, has been upwards of 100,000,000 
of francs, ($20,000,000.) 

Andrew Murray, esq., in an elaborate report on "Products of Useful 
Insects" at the Paris Exhibition, printed in the Illustrated London News 
of the 6th of July last, in speaking of the supply of graines (eggs) in the 
future, says: 

"While things jog on as before from year to year, the cultivator will 
be slow to believe it possible that a time may come when no fresh frames 
(or eggs) are to be had. But the supply hangs upon a thread; when 
every silk country in the world shall have become infected, then the 
supply must cease. And we are not far from that stage. Japan and 
Australia are the only countries now free. When they go, the silk trade 
will collapse, and silk be blotted from the list of textile fabrics. That 
indeed would be a calamity which would come home to ourselves. Our 
silk spinners and silk weavers, our ribbon makers, our silk mercers, and 
the thousands who depend on these trades for subsistence, would have 
their occux)ation gone, and ruin and starvation would await a large por- 
tion of our population. Surely, to avert such a result, not only in this 

'The Williams Silk Manufacturing Company, of New York, exhibited excellent "silk 
twist," for sewing machines, for which honorable mention was made, equivalent to a diploma. 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTUEES. 45 

country, (Great Britain,) but also over a large part of the continent, 
deserves that every suggestion which promises escape should be care 
fully considered; and surely, if by any measure, however stringent, one 
country could be cleansed from the infection before its spread ends in a 
complete extinction of the race, and so the threatened ruin averted, it 
ought to be adopted." 

Unlike almost all epidemics, this does not disappear from a locality 
after one or two visitations, but once established, it remains, while its 
virulence increases rather than diminishes. This extraordinary trait is 
attributed to the tact that the silk-worm, by the law of its existence, is an 
annual, and therefore has no acclimated subjects, but presents to the 
epidemic a yearly supply of fresh victims. And in view of the geo- 
graphical position of the United States, it may be noted, that M. de 
Quatrefages, an eminent French writer, who has carefully studied this 
subject, expresses the opinion that, contrary to the general course of 
epidemics, this travels eastward rather than westward. 

This mysterious malady, which seems destined to destroy silk hus- 
bandry in the whole eastern hemisphere, has not appeared in the western. 
In view of its easterly course, and with the Pacific ocean between it and the 
American continent, and with our superior climatic conditions, it is hoped 
and believed that with precaution and care it will never reach our shores. 

The soils, and especially the climate of those States of the Union 
where the cotton plant and the sugar cane have been wont to flourish, 
are peculiarly adapted to the raising of the mulberry and the raising of 
silk-worms. 

From obvious causes some of the long existing industries of portions 
of these States will hereafter be necessarily modified to a noticeable 
extent. The culture of cotton and the production of sugar will not so 
exclusively engross the attention of their population as formerly. A 
portion of their capital and labor will doubtless seek new fields for the 
exercise of their energies. 

Are not these facts an exhortation, an admonition even, to the people 
of the United States, to promptly avail themselves of their providential 
advantages, and by devoting a liberal share of their resources to the 
production and manufacture of silk, save this important and beautiful 
industry from ruin, while at the same time they advance the prosperity 
of their own country and confer incalculable blessings upon the world? 

In conclusion, the undersigned cannot refrain from expressing here 
publicly his thanks to Messieurs Arles-Dufour and Duseigneur, of 
Lyons, and M. Alcan, of Paris, as well as to the many prominent manu- 
facturers and merchants in the different centres of industry in Europe 
whom he has visited, for their kindness in assisting to make the numer- 
ous resaarches which became necessary in the examination of this import- 
ant and diversified subject. 

The works of M. Louis Eeybaud, M. Pasteur, M. de Quatrefages, the 
archives of the chambers of commerce of the various cities of France, 



46 PAEIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Switzerland, and Germany, and especially that of Lyons, have been val- 
uable sources of information. 

The report now submitted has swelled far beyond the limits antici- 
pated at its commencement; but, silk industry in all its branches, now 
grown to such importance throughout Europe, the conspicuous place it 
occupied in the Exposition; its comparative novelty in the United States, 
and the prospect that ere long it will be firmly established and diligently 
prosecuted iu many sections of our country, seemed to call for a careful 
and thorough investigation, and a full and detailed statement of facts 
and conclusions. 

I have the honor to be, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

ELLIOT C. COWDIN. 

Hon. William H. Seward, 

Secretary of State, Washington, I). C. 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Africa, state of silk industry in 18 

Alcan, Professor, silk-thread testing apparatus of 30 

other machines of 31 

thanks of the author to 45 

Arles-Dufour, thanks of the author to 45 

Asiatic countries, state of silk industry in 18 

China . 18 

East Indies 18 

Persia 18 

Syria 18 

Asia Minor 18 

Austria, state of silk industry in 17 

Aurelian, the Emperor, his opinion of silk in his times, (note 1 ) 21 

Bechamp, M , on the malady among silk-worms 25 

Blonde lace, manufacture and beauty of 43 

California, its cocoons at the Exposition 9 

excellence of its eggs 9 

its flourishing silk industry 10 

admirably adapted to silk husbandry 10 

Caroline, Queen, her robe of Georgia silk 7 

Charles II, his coronation robe of Virginia silk 7 

Chesterfield, Earl of, his robe, of South Carolina silk 7 

China, silk originated in 5 

early exportation of eggs from 6 

curious custom of the Empress of 5 

state of silk industry in 5 

Cocoons, how to select good 21 

treatment of, in reeling and throwing 19-27 

doubles 21 

Cost of raw silk in various countries 12, 13 

of various elements in silk-worm breeding 26 

Crompton, George, loom of, (note 1 ) 42 

Drouyn de l'Huys, Madame, introduces a new silk-worm into France 23 

Duseigneur, M , thanks of the author to 45 

Dyeing of silk 19-35 

high perfection in 35 

surcharging silk threads by, reprobated 36 

East Indies, silk industry in 18 

Edict of Nantes, effect of revocating on France 6 

effect of revocating on Germany and Switzerland 6 

effect of revocating on England 15 

Eggs, importance of 20 

scarcity of good 20 

countries where mostly produced 20 

mode of selecting good 20 

Egypt and Mediterranean countries, state of silk industry in 18 

Ecuador, state of silk industry in 10 



48 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Page. 

France, progressive development of silk industry in 14, 15 

value of silk in 17»9 14 

value of silk in 1812 14 

value of silk in 1820 14 

value of silk in 1 850 15 

value of silk in 1 855 15 

value of silk in I860, and subsequently 15 

superior state of silk industry in 15 

persons employed in Paris, on silk waste 41 

value of this product there and in the whole country 41 

Franklin, Benjamin, encourages silk industry in the United States 8 

George III, his mother's robe of South Carolina silk 7 

Gold, silk once as costly, pound for pound, as (note 1 ) 28 

Great Britain, rise and progress of silk industry in 15, 16 

early history of in 15 

amouut of in 1825 16 

amount of in 1855 16 

amount of in 1856 16 

amount of in 1858 16 

amount of from 1860 to 1866 16 

superior c ondition of in , 17 

number of looms and persons employed in 41 

Guerin-Meneville, introduces a new silk-worm into France 23 

Honegger, G., silk-thread, sorting apparatus of 30 

Industry, silk, the seven branches of 18 

breeding of silk- worms 18 

reeling from cocoons 19 

throwing off the silk 19 

dyeing 35 

preparations of threads for the loom 19 

weaving 36 

working of waste 34 

Iron, silk threads as strong as 5 

Italy, state of silk industry in 17 

Jacquard, M. , looms of 38 

Joyot, jr., loom of, for weaving ribbons 39 

Laces, manufacture of 38 

Lamb, J. W., knitting machine of, (note 1) 42 

Law, Governor, his silk coat and stockings 8 

Lyons, the great centre of silk manufacture 14,15 

looms in 14 

brilliant character of products of 38 

exports of to the United States in 1865 and 1866 15 

author's thanks to Chamber of Commerce of 46 

Machines, implements, tools, and apparatus : 

for preventing double cocoons 21 

for reeling cocoons 27 

for sorting and testing threads 29 

for throwing 31 

for simultaneous reeling and throwing 32 

for disintegrating waste 34 

for weaving stuffs, (note 1 ) 42 

for weaving ribbons 39 

the Jacquard looms 38 

Malady among silk-worms 44 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTUEES. 49 

Page. 

Malady among silk-worms, great ravages of 24 

theories as to its cause 24 

proposed remedies, theories of 24 

M. Pasteur's theory of 25 

M. Bechamp's theory of 25 

facts ascertained concerning 25 

M. Quatrefage's opinion upon 45 

Andrew Murray upon 44 

exemption of United States from 44, 45 

M6neville-Guerin, M. , introduces a new silk-worm into France 23 

Morus multicaulis, furor about, in the United States 8 

Mulberry tree, condition of its cultivation 9 

climates and soils suited to „ 9 

portions of United States adapted to 9 

California especially adapted to 9 

Murray, Andrew, on silk-worm malady 44 

Nurseries for silk-worm rearing 26 

Opper, M., loom of, (note 1) 42 

Paris, persons employed on silk waste in 41 

value of product on waste in 41 

Pasteur, M. , on silk-worm malady 25 

Persia, state of silk industry in 18 

Peter the Great introduces the mulberry into Russia, ( note 1 ) 12 

Profitableness of silk husbandry 42 

illustration from Commune of Valleraugue, (note 1) 43 

Prussia, state of silk industry in 17 

Quatrefages, M. de, on the silk- worm malady 45 

Raw silk, production and characteristics of 11-13 

tabular statement of the value of the products of 12, 13 

price of, at various times 14 

implements for transforming cocoons into 26 

methods of transformation 28 

apparatus to sort and prove threads of 29 

G. Honegger's apparatus 30 

Professor Alcan's apparatus 30 

Reeling and throwing simultaneously 32, 33 

Revolutionary war, destructive effect on silk husbandry in the United States 8 

Reybaud, Louis, his works, and thanks of author to 45 

Ribbons, the weaving of 39 

Joyot, jr. 's loom for 39 

chief localities of the manufacture of 39 

where chiefly sold 39 

purchases of, by the United States 39 

manufacture of, in the United States 43 

Russia, state of silk industry in 12 

Sewing silk, large production of, in the United States 44 

Silk, leading characteristics of 5 

name of, in various languages 5 

origin of , in China 5 

introduction into Persia, Greece, and Italy 6 

introduction of, into Constantinople 6 

introduction of manufacture into Europe 6-14 

rise and progress of silk industry in the United States 6 

4 S 



50 PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION. 

Page. 

Silk, rise and progress of silk industry in Virginia 6 

in Georgia 7 

in South Carolina 7 

in Pennsylvania and New Jersey 8 

in Massachusetts and Connecticut 8 

in California 9 

in South America 10 

in Ecuador 10 

Silk- worms, breeding of 10-25 

habits of 22 

necessity of good eggs for 22 

nurseries for 21 

mode of selecting eggs for 21 

male and female cocoons 21 

double cocoons 21 

apparatus to prevent doubles 21 

cost of breeding, in detail 26 

malady among 44 

different species of worms 22 

the common species most in use 22 

its characteristics and habits 22 

the castor-oil species 22 

the ailanthus species 23 

the tusseh species 23 

the Japan species 23 

the bomyx cecropia 23 

mode in which the worm produces silk 22 

Silver, silk as dear as, by weight 28 

Spain, state of silk industry in 17 

Spinning of waste 20 

Spitalfields, the silk weavers of 15 

Steam looms 36 

Stiles, Rev. Dr., his Commencement silk gown 8 

Switzerland, state of silk industry in 36 

its importance next to that of France and England 17 

large manufacture of ribbons in 36 

variety of its apparatus for throwing 31 

variety of its looms 34 

Syria, product of silk in 18 

Threads of silk, various kinds of 19 

Thrown silk, various kinds of threads of 19 

Throwing of silk, method of 31 

apparatus for 3i 

simultaneous reeling and throwing 32 

Trimmings, silk, large production of, in the United States 41 

Tours, perfection of its products 38 

Twist, silk, large production of, in the United States 44 

United States, rise and progress of silk business in 6 

in Virginia 6 

in Georgia 7 

in South Carolina 7 

in Pennsylvania and New Jersey 8 

in Massachusetts and Connecticut 8 

in California 9 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES. 51 

Page. 

United States, adaptation of, to this industry 9 

production of sewing silk and twist in 44 

production of Pongee handkerchiefs in 44 

production of ribbons, braids, trimmings, &c 4*3 

chief seats of this industry in 40 

product of 1840, 1844, 1850, 1860, and since 9 

moras multicaulis furor in 8 

species of silk-worms indigenous in 23 

exemption of the country from the malady 45 

encouragement on that account 45 

the four branches in which they may now excel 41 

the three branches in which they may ultimately excel 42 

Waste, utility, varieties, and production of 33 

methods of utilizing 34 

manufacture of waste in Paris 41 

manufacture of waste in France 41 

Weaving of silk stuffs 36 

French and Swiss looms 36-38 

English looms 38 

two classes of automatic looms 36 

of ribbons 36 



PARIS UNIVERSAL EXPOSITION, 1867. 
REPORTS OF THE UNITED STATES COMMISSIONERS. 



R E ;p O H T 



SILK AND SILK MANUFACTURES, 



ELLIOT C. COWDIN 

UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER. 



WASHINGTON: 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1868. 



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